New coronavirus with potential to cause pandemic discovered in China

A new coronavirus with the potential to spread among humans has been discovered by Chinese researchers.

A team led by virologist Shi Zhengli, known as ‘Batwoman’ for her work on coronaviruses, detected the new virus, HKU5-CoV-2, in bats in China.

HKU5-CoV-2 is similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that sparked the global Covid-19 pandemic, and has a higher potential than other coronaviruses of infecting people because it infiltrates human cells called ACE2 the same way Covid does. 

While there are hundreds of coronaviruses in the wild, only a few can infect humans, including SARS, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). 

The new HKU5-CoV-2 is a coronavirus belonging to the merbecovirus group and is closely related to MERS. 

In experiments carried out in the lab, the scientists analyzed HKU5-CoV-2 and found it was able to infect human cell cultures in the model organs.

The scientists published their newest research in the journal Cell, and said: ‘Bat merbecoviruses, which are phylogenetically related to MERS-CoV, pose a high risk of spillover to humans, either through direct transmission or facilitated by intermediate hosts.’

MERS is a contagious respiratory illness spread from animals to humans and from human to human. It causes fever, cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea and vomiting, and can be fatal in severe cases. 

Only two patients in the US have ever tested positive for MERS – both in May 2014 -and each case was linked to travel from the Middle East. There is no vaccine against the virus. 

Merbecoviruses have been detected in minks and pangolins – the animal believed to be the intermediary for Covid between bats and humans. 

This, the scientists wrote, ‘suggests frequent cross-species transmission of these viruses between bats and other animal species.’

They added that HKU5-CoV-2 infected model organs and tissues of the respiratory and intestinal systems. 

This study reveals a distinct lineage of HKU5-CoVs in bats that efficiently use human ACE2 and underscores their potential zoonotic risk.

However, they added that the potential for HKU5-CoV-2 to spillover to humans ‘remains to be investigated.’

The research was conducted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The WIV is at the center of the lab-leak theory, which claims Covid-19 was manufactured in a Chinese lab and accidentally leaked to the public. 

The newest study states a zoonotic spillover is believed to be responsible for the Zovid-19 pandemic as bats have the highest proportion of coronaviruses and are considered reservoirs for coronaviruses.

But while SARS and MERS have documented evidence of transmission between animals to humans, the ‘intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2 remain unclear.’

A 2023 report published in the journal Nature and led by virus expert Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina found the strain of coronavirus harbored in pangolins, endangered animals in China, was nearly identical to the Covid-19 virus that caused the pandemic. 

This has led some scientists to theorize that the first cases of Covid-19 likely jumped from the animals to immunocompromised humans.

This gave the novel virus ample opportunity to mutate and replicate until it reached its full pandemic potential. 

However, another camp of scientists insist the pandemic was sparked by a lab leak. This theory, subscribed to by some US federal agencies, posits that Covid-19 was manufactured in a lab and accidentally escaped, which set off the pandemic.