On 22 September 2020, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health was notified of a person with confirmed COVID-19 among passengers on a coach trip in southern Norway. The coach party included 40 people including guide and driver. Almost all the passengers were infected during the seven days they traveled together. Contact tracing around the coach trip has been ongoing in 25 municipalities, resulting in around a hundred cases so far. Five of those involved have been admitted to hospital.
During the coach trip, the passengers have probably led to local cases in Røros, Lillehammer, Dovre, Molde, Førde and Kvamherad, among others. Further transmission from these cases has occurred in Lillehammer, Molde and Kristiansund.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has examined the genetic material of the coronavirus from several of the cases and detected a variant of the virus with a change in the largest surface protein, the spike protein. This is the first time we see a virus with this mutation in Norway. It is uncertain how and when the virus entered the country. Almost identical viruses have recently been seen in some other European countries. The virus belongs to a genetic subgroup of the coronavirus called B.1.160.
The spike protein is important for the virus' ability to bind to human cells.
"We have no information to indicate that this virus causes more severe disease. Viruses with this mutation may affect infectivity and it is therefore important to follow developments.
