A media report underscores that the virus, found by a Chinese team of virologists, uses the same human receptor as the virus that causes Covid-19.
China finds new coronavirus: A media report claims that China has found a new bat coronavirus that carries the risk of animal-to-human transmission. The report underscores that the virus, found by a Chinese team of virologists, uses the same human receptor as the virus that causes Covid-19. The virus reportedly has the ability 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.
What is HKU5 coronavirus?
The new virus belongs to the merbecovirus subgenus, which also includes the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. The latest discovery is a new lineage of the HKU5 coronavirus first identified in the Japanese pipistrelle bat in Hong Kong.
What did virologists say?
In a statement, the team of virologists, which was led by Shi Zhengli, a Chinese virologist from the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), said, “We report the discovery and isolation of a distinct lineage (lineage 2) of HKU5-CoV, which can utilise not only bat ACE2 but also human ACE2 and various mammalian ACE2 orthologs [– genes found in different species with a common origin].”
Shi, who is known as the Bat Woman for her research on viruses from the bats, as well as the Chinese government, have denied that the virus was leaked from the Wuhan lab.
The researchers discovered that once isolated, the virus could infect human cells as well as artificially grown masses of cells or tissue that resembled miniaturised respiratory or intestinal organs.
A shocking revelation from US
In another shocking revelation, the American media reports claim that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) used taxpayers’ money to fund gain-of-function studies at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, which may have caused the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the deaths of millions around the world.
Trump has shut down the USAID work that was not aligned with American strategic interests and wastes money. The Wuhan bio-lab was constantly under scanner, especially during the previous Trump presidency.
(With inputs from AP)
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