A Chinese team discovered a new bat coronavirus that poses a risk of animal-to-human transmission as it uses the same human receptor as the COVID-19 virus, a Hong Kong daily reported on Thursday, citing the latest study.
The study was led by Shi Zhengli – a leading virologist known as the “batwoman” due to her extensive research on bat coronaviruses – at the Guangzhou Laboratory along with researchers from the Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to reports, the newly discovered coronavirus uses the same human receptor as the virus responsible for COVID-19 and SARS, human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2).
The virus, also known as HKU5-CoV-2, is a novel lineage of the HKU5 coronavirus discovered in Japanese pipistrelle bats in Hong Kong.
Advertisement
The latest discovery is a new lineage of the HKU5 coronavirus first identified in the Japanese pipistrelle bat in Hong Kong.
The new virus comes from the merbecovirus subgenus, which also includes the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The virus is able to bind to the human angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE2), the same receptor used by the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, to infect cells.
Lab tests revealed that the virus can infect human cells and artificially-grown lung and intestine tissues. It can also bind to ACE2 receptors in humans, bats, and other animals, increasing the likelihood of cross-species transmission.
Even though HKU5-CoV-2 has a stronger binding ability than its original strain with a wider range of hosts, the researchers emphasized that it is far less potent than SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, and the risk of widespread human transmission is low.
Shi Zhengli, the study's lead scientist, is well-known for her work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has come under fire due to claims that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak, which Shi has denied.
China previously rejected the “CIA-backed theory” that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from an accidental lab leak in Wuhan rather than natural transmission in a wet market, the daily reported
The first cases of the COVID-19 virus were reported in Wuhan, central China, in December 2019. It subsequently spread worldwide, leading to national lockdowns and causing nearly seven million deaths.
