NEW DELHI:  Is another pandemic coming? A Chinese team has found a new bat coronavirus that poses a risk of spreading from animals to humans as it uses the same human receptor as the virus that causes Covid-19. The virus, called HKU5-CoV-2, was found to use the same human receptor as SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19.
According to a media report, a team of Chinese virologists has found a new bat coronavirus that poses a risk of spreading from animals to humans. It uses the same human receptor as the virus that causes Covid-19. The Indian government is yet to give any official response in this regard.
The study was led by Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli of the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), from where Covid-19 allegedly spread. Shi, known as Bat Woman for her research on viruses from bats, as well as the Chinese government deny that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab. HKU5 is a new lineage of coronavirus, first identified in Japanese pipistrelle bats in Hong Kong.
According to a report, the study was led by Shi Zhengli – a leading virologist, often referred to as “Batwoman” due to her extensive research on bat coronaviruses – after a surge in cases of the flu-like human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China sparked fears of another Covid-style pandemic. The virus is able to attach to the human angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE2), the same receptor used by the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, to infect cells.
Researchers found that when the virus was isolated from bat samples it could infect human cells as well as artificially grown cell or tissue masses that resemble small respiratory or intestinal organs. Earlier this month, China said its bio-lab in Wuhan, which was accused of leaking COVID-19 that caused the global pandemic, had never participated in “gain-of-function studies” on the coronavirus, despite allegations that USAID funded studies of the infectious disease. Gain-of-function research is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that enhances the biological functions of gene products.
“China has also made it clear more than once that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has never participated in gain-of-function studies of the coronavirus,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said. “It has never designed, made or engineered COVID-19,” Guo said.

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