In the last month from 14 January to 12 February, 61 cases of a new corona variant – B1525 – have been found in Denmark.
It writes the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) on Friday afternoon in a news item on its website.
It does not give rise to concern in the same way as the B117 variant, which was first detected in the UK. But the new variant is being monitored, the institute writes.
– The B1525 variant has, among other things, the mutation E484K. This mutation, which is also found in the B1351 variant (the South African variant, ed.), Results in decreased sensitivity to antibodies.
– There is no evidence that the E484K mutation causes increased infectivity, writes SSI.
The 61 cases are spread across three regions. 33 cases have been found in the Capital Region, 23 cases have been detected in the Region of Southern Denmark, while the remaining five are in Region Zealand.
The cases, according to SSI, are primarily concentrated on three clusters.
One is in the Region of Southern Denmark, where it started with an incoming person to Denmark. From here, the variant spread to the person’s family and to a case in a kindergarten.
The other cluster is also in the Region of Southern Denmark, where the primary case had not been traveling. Several people have been infected through their work, and members of their families have also been infected through it.
The third cluster is on Zealand, where the cases are concentrated on a group of children and their families.
Eight cases of B1525 that are not related to any of the three clusters have also been identified. Five of them have been found in the Region of Southern Denmark in connection with travel.
One of the infected is hospitalized, but not in intensive care. None of them have lost their lives, just as none of them were vaccinated before they became infected.
Already on Thursday, Norwegian media such as Aftenposten and NRK wrote that the variant had been found in Norway and also in Denmark. SSI writes that B1525 has also been found in countries such as England, Nigeria, USA and Canada.
Source: The Nordic Page