Scientists from China have found a new bat coronavirus—HKU5-CoV-2—that can infect humans in extremely high numbers, raising concerns about another potential pandemic like COVID-19, which killed millions across the world. According to news reports, this new virus can attach to the same human cell receptor, ACE2, that COVID-19 used to spread, making experts pay close attention.
The discovery was made by a team led by Shi Zhengli, the Chinese scientist infamous for research that is suspected to have caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Also known as "Batwoman" for her work on bat viruses, Shi published the study on the latest discovery in the journal Cell while also involving scientists from top research institutes, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to the scientists, HKU5-CoV-2 is part of the merbecovirus family—which also includes the MERS virus. It was first found in bats in Hong Kong and has now been identified as a new strain that can attach to human cells.
The virus can also bind to cells in various animals, increasing its chances of jumping between species. However, a report in the South China Morning Post says that according to scientists, the virus’s ability to infect humans is much weaker compared to COVID-19.
There are several hundred coronaviruses across multiple categories. Of them, only a handful, including SARS, SARS-CoV-2, MERS, and a few others, infect humans.
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In the years following the outbreak of coronavirus, it is known that there has been a proposal to develop the same kind of lab-generated virus that emerged in December 2019—seen as clinching circumstantial evidence to believe that a lab origin is much likelier than a natural origin.
However, Shi and other scientists have maintained that the virus emerged naturally, even though there is no evidence of the natural origin of the COVID-19 pandemic so far.
And so, according to experts across the world, as the new virus can infect human cells, there is a need to stay alert, despite claims that it does not seem to be as dangerous as COVID-19. Researchers say even though the risk of it spreading is considered low, viruses like this can evolve over time.
“While there is a potential risk, there’s no need to panic,” the study mentioned. “Structural and functional analyses indicate that HKU5-CoV-2 has a better adaptation to human ACE2 than lineage 1 HKU5-CoV. Authentic HKU5-CoV-2 infected human ACE2-expressing cell lines and human respiratory and enteric organoids. This study reveals a distinct lineage of HKU5-CoVs in bats that efficiently use human ACE2 and underscores their potential zoonotic risk,” noted the researchers.