Chinese researchers discover new coronavirus has the same transmission risk as Covid-19

A Chinese research team has discovered a new coronavirus in bats that has the potential to jump from animals to humans because it uses the same human receptor as the virus that causes Covid-19.

The study was led by Shi Zhengli, a virologist nicknamed "bat woman" for her extensive research on coronaviruses in bats, at the Guangzhou Laboratory along with researchers from the Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to the South China Morning Post .

Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China in 2017.

According to the new study, Shi's team first discovered the HKU5 coronavirus strain in Japanese pipistrelle bats in Hong Kong. The new virus comes from the merbecovirus subgenus, which also includes the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers).

The HKU5 virus is able to bind to human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2), the same receptor used by the Covid-19-causing virus SAR-CoV-2 to infect cells, according to the South China Morning Post .

Although there is still no consensus on the origin of SAR-CoV-2, some studies suggest that it originated in bats and spread to humans through an intermediate animal host.

Shi is best known for her work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is at the center of a debate over the origins of Covid-19, with one theory suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China. Shi and Chinese officials have denied that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was responsible for the outbreak.

What did China say after the CIA made a new assessment of the origin of Covid-19?

Last month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said it was unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a laboratory, according to AFP. Mao made the comment after the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released a new assessment in which analysts favored the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a laboratory.

For years, the CIA has said it didn’t have enough information to conclude whether the Covid-19 pandemic originated naturally at a Wuhan market or accidentally leaked from a lab there. The latest change is based on “available reporting,” though any of those theories are possible, according to a CIA spokesperson.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/gioi-nghien-cuu-trung-quoc-phat-hien-virus-corona-moi-co-nguy-co-lay-truyen-nhu-covid-19-185250221111533472.htm