New bat virus in China raises potential global health alarms
The South China Morning Post reports that a new strain of the coronavirus has been identified in bats in China. A team of researchers has stated that it may spread in the same manner as the virus that led to the multi-year pandemic that began at the end of 2019 and continued into 2020.
Chinese scientists warn that the newly discovered virus utilizes the same cell receptor as SARS-CoV-2, which is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the South China Morning Post, the research was led by Shi Zhengli, a leading Chinese virologist known as the "batwoman" due to her extensive work on coronaviruses in these animals, including in Wuhan at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project also included scientists from a laboratory, the Academy of Sciences in Guangzhou, Wuhan University, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Media outlets remind us that one theory about the coronavirus that spread five years ago suggests that the virus may have escaped from the laboratory in Wuhan. However, to date, there is no conclusive evidence for this hypothesis. Many scientists believe that the virus was transmitted to humans from bats through an intermediary host. Shi Zhengli herself has repeatedly denied that her institute is responsible for the pandemic.
The newly discovered virus belongs to a new line of HKU5 coronaviruses, first identified in bats in Hong Kong. It is part of the subfamily of merbecoviruses, among which is also the virus causing the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Particularly concerning is that the new virus can bind to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2)—exactly the same one that SARS-CoV-2 uses to infect cells. This means it could pose a potential threat to public health.
Scientists maintain, however, that although HKU5 has the potential to cause an epidemic, there is currently no cause for immediate concern.
Read also:
