Six people were confirmed on Wednesday to be infected with the new variant of the delta virus with an additional mutation called E484Q. None of the people needed hospital care. Two were fully vaccinated, the others were not or partially vaccinated. The infection came here after traveling to Spain and Portugal. It writes SvD.

On Saturday, something anomalous was discovered during a test in Uppsala.

– In the Uppsala region, we run through the genetic code of the virus and do a thorough analysis of all the positive samples left at one of our sampling stations, meaning the lab gets a pacifier where something is off, says Mats Martinell, medical responsible doctor in the sampling department of the Academic Hospital, to SvD.

Previously, only 400 cases in the world were identified by the new delta variant – although many more are thought to be – so knowledge is limited. The additional mutation was previously mainly found in the kappa variant. The fact that it has now been found on the delta variant is worrying.

– Delta is incredibly contagious, while the knowledge of what it means if it also has this extra mutation is clinically low. The analyzes that have been done have indicated that this mutation could make the vaccine less effective, Mats Martinell told SvD.

Researchers from the Swedish Agency for Health have SVT said, among other things, that they are aware of the new variant, that it has not been previously reported in the country, that they do not know how it behaves because it is unusual and that they are closely following developments.