A Chinese team of researchers has discovered a new bat coronavirus that poses a risk of transmission 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 leading Chinese virologist known for her extensive research on bat coronaviruses at the Guangzhou Laboratory, along with researchers from the Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University, and the Guangzhou Institute of Virology.
Xi is best known for her work at the Wuhan Institute, which has been at the center of controversy over the origins of SARS-CoV-2, with one theory claiming it originated from a laboratory leak in the Chinese metropolis.
According to the study by Chinese researchers, which was published in the journal Cell, no human infections with the new virus, referred to as HKU5-CoV-2, have yet been detected.
The newly discovered bat species could theoretically infect cells by binding to proteins found throughout the body of humans and other mammals, the study says. However, it adds, the possibility of the virus spreading to humans “remains to be investigated.”
It is recalled that the first known case of Covid-19 in humans appeared in Wuhan in November 2019.