There Are Fears of an Outbreak After a New Bat Coronavirus Was Found in China

People are worried about another outbreak after a new bat coronavirus was found in China.

A story in the South China Morning Post says that the virus, called HKU5-CoV-2, targets the same human receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2). This makes it similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Researchers found that HKU5-CoV-2 could be passed from person to person or even between species.

The study group was led by Zheng-Li Shi and met at the Guangzhou Laboratory in Guangdong, China.

It was said that Shi, who is known as “Batwoman,” worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, which could have been the source of COVID-19.

The study, which was published on Feb. 18 in the scientific journal Cell, found a unique group of HKU5-CoVs in bats that can effectively use human ACE2. The researchers said this “underscores their potential zoonotic risk.”

It also had help from researchers at Wuhan University, the Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Reports say that the study found that HKU5-CoV-2 could attack both human cells and lung and intestine tissues that were grown in a lab.

A clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and a senior medical reporter for Fox News, Dr. Marc Siegel, said that bats are known to carry several different types of coronaviruses.

“In this case, Shi-Zhengli discovered that a Pipistrellus species of bats is carrying an HKU5-COV2 coronavirus that is a cousin of the MERS virus, which caused a limited outbreak in humans in 2012,” Siegel told Fox News.

“This particular strain can bind to the same receptor in the lungs, nose, and respiratory passages that allowed SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) to infect humans — so there is a chance of what is known as zoonotic spillover, where this virus could also infect humans and go human to human,” he said.

The doctor did say that this is still “very unlikely” to happen, though, because the virus is “much less powerful” and the binding is weaker than with SARS-CoV-2.

“Even as we continue to investigate potential human pathogens, and even as we prepare for possible pandemics, it is very important that we not give in to fear,” said Siegel.

“The COVID pandemic is the worst in a century, but it doesn’t mean another is about to happen from bird flu or this or anything else.”

Siegel said that the best thing that could happen is for a foreign group of scientists to work together to help protect the whole world.

“That certainly did not happen with the COVID pandemic, and the cloak of secrecy remains,” he added. “But studies like this, published in a prominent journal, are a step in the right direction.”

“What we know far less about is exactly what research on bat coronaviruses is being conducted in that lab.”