Wuhan Savants Warn New 'NeoCov' Virus Could Infect Humans

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wuhan University have discovered a mysterious new virus among bats in South Africa that is related to the MERS coronavirus and could possibly infect humans, Antony Ashkenaz reported for Daily Express.

Photo Insert: NeoCov is not a new variant of the coronavirus that caused the deadly pandemic.

The study, which so far has not been peer-reviewed was published by Chinese researchers in the BioRxiv journal earlier this week. NeoCov is not a new variant of the coronavirus that caused the deadly pandemic that has ravaged the world since early 2020.

Rather, it is a different type of coronavirus that is linked to Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers-CoV). In the study, the Wuhan-based scientists warned that NeoCoV could cause problems if it were transferred from bats to humans. Laboratory tests so far suggest that NeoCoV has a low ability to infect human cells.

The authors of the study noted: "In this study, we unexpectedly found that NeoCoV and its close relative, PDF-2180-CoV, can efficiently use some types of bat Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and, less favorably, human ACE2 for entry."

ACE2 is a type of receptor protein on cells that provides the entry point for the coronavirus to hook into and infect a wide range of cells.

They continued: "Our study demonstrates the first case of ACE2 usage in MERS-related viruses, shedding light on a potential bio-safety threat of the human emergence of an ACE2 using "MERS-CoV-2" with both high fatality and transmission rate. Considering the extensive mutations in the RBD regions of the SARS-CoV-2 variants, especially the heavily mutated Omicron variant, these viruses may hold a latent potential to infect humans through further adaptation."

A receptor-binding domain (RBD) is a key part of a virus that allows it to grab onto body receptors to gain entry into cells and lead to infection.

Speaking to the Independent, Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University said: "We need to see more data confirming human infection and associated severity before getting anxious. The pre-print [study] suggests that infection of human cells with NeoCoV is extremely inefficient."

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