New COVID virus found: Wuhan Institute of Virology’s research team, led by China’s virologist Shi Zhengli, famous as ‘Batwoman’, has detected a new coronavirus, HKU5-CoV-2, in bats. The new virus has the potential to cause disruptions, just like the COVID-19 virus caused a few years ago.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that a new coronavirus in bats can enter cells using the same route as the virus that causes COVID-19.
There are many coronaviruses infecting animals worldwide, but the newly discovered virus has the potential for animal-to-human transmission, just like the one that caused COVID-19.
No, the new coronavirus has only been identified in laboratories and has not been detected in humans until now, which eliminates the risk of a situation caused by COVID-19.
Researchers said in a paper published Tuesday in the journal Cell that the lab finding raises the possibility that this new bat virus could spread from animals to humans.
The newly discovered bat virus is highly likely to spread to humans either through direct transmission or through facilitated transmission by intermediate hosts. Direct transmission includes close contact with bat secretions like saliva, urine, or faeces.
Meanwhile, transmission through intermediate hosts may include the spread of infection via another animal before directly entering the human body.
The new coronavirus infects by binding to a protein found throughout the bodies of humans and other mammals. It’s closely related to the coronavirus family that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). This has been confirmed in around 2,600 people globally from 2012 to May 2024. The viru has caused deaths in 36% of people with infect with it.
There is a possibility of animal-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus. Although the HKU5 strain has the ability to bind to bat and other animal’s ACE2 receptors (cell proteins), but researchers haven’t detected “efficient” human binding capability, reported South China Morning Post citing research published in Cell.
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Business NewsNewsWorldCOVID 2.0 coming? Scientists discover new coronavirus in bats that could infect humans same way as Covid-19
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