Chinese scientists have discovered a novel coronavirus of bats, HKU5-CoV-2. It was isolated from the Japanese pipistrelle bat in Hong Kong and falls within the merbecovirus subgenus of viruses that cover the MERS virus. The alarm is raised by the observation that the new coronav virus has the same receptor as the virus for SARS-Cov-2, causing COVID-19, hence the ability to infect and transmit to humans. The scientists, as they conducted the work, witnessed how bat viruses, mutate and leap to the human population. Such a \”spillover\” risk is problematic since animal viruses, and particularly bat virus, can cause outbreaks or even pandemics. The study cautions that viruses such as HKU 5-Co V-2 pose a high spillover risk to humans, either directly from bats or indirectly via intermediate hosts. There are no confirmed human infections of the virus, therefore, the symptoms are unknown.
Chinese scientists have discovered a novel coronavirus of bats, HKU5-C….
