New 'deadly' coronavirus discovered in Chinese bats with high chance of infecting humans
A new coronavirus has been discovered in bats which could have a higher chance of infecting humans than other coronaviruses.An expert team in China led by virologist Shi Zhengli, known as "batwoman" for her work on coronaviruses has uncovered a new variant called HKU5-CoV-2 at Wuhan labs.
It is the same Wuhan centre that was hit was claims that Covid-19 originated from - something Shi has denied.As the Mirror reports, the new virus is understood to be related to MERS, a deadlier coronavirus that reportedly kills up to a third of people it infects.
The emergence of the new bug has put health officials across the world on high alert five years after Covid-19 forced global lockdowns.Tests showed HKU5-CoV-2 infiltrated human cells in the same way as SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid.
The Beijing-funded researchers shared their discovery in the journal Cell, stating that it posed a "high risk of spillover to humans, either through direct transmission or facilitated by intermediate hosts".The Covid-19 pandemic is one of the deadliest outbreaks in the world's history.
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