NeoCov's potential danger to humans requires further study: WHO

Chinese researchers have detected a new type of coronavirus among bats in South Africa While research claims it has latent ability to mutate the World Health Organisation has said its potential needs further clarityAccording to scientists from the Wuhan University in China NeoCov can penetrate human cells in the same way as SARSCoV2It is the closest relative to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus MERSCoVIt is only one mutation away from becoming dangerous for humans researchers said in a paper posted on preprint website bioRxiv and not peerreviewed yetHowever according to the WHO the question of whether the NeoCov coronavirus recently discovered in bats in South Africa poses a threat to humans requires further studyWhether the virus detected in the study will pose a risk for humans will require further study the health body was quoted as saying to TASS news agencyThe WHO added that it works closely with the World Organisation for Animal Health OIE the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO and the UN Environment Program UNEPin order to monitor and respond to the threat of emerging zoonotic virusesThe WHO told TASS that its experts were aware of this research and thank the researchers for sharing their findings in a preprintAnimals particularly wild animals are the source of more than 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases in humans many of which are caused by novel viruses Coronaviruses are often found in animals including in bats which have been identified as a natural reservoir of many of these viruses the global body saidThe Chinese scientists said that they unexpectedly found that NeoCoV and its close relative PDF2180CoV can efficiently use some types of bat Angiotensinconverting enzyme 2 ACE2 and less favourably human ACE2 for entryThe study demonstrates the first case of ACE2 usage in MERSrelated viruses shedding light on a potential biosafety threat of the human emergence of an ACE2 using MERSCoV2 with both high fatality and transmission rateNotably the infection could not be crossneutralised by antibodies targeting SARSCoV2 or MERSCoV the researchers saidMeanwhile Russian scientists that noted the discovery of this variety shows that the variants of viruses capable of binding to human receptors without any adaptation are already circulating directly in the wild TASS reportedYet it is difficult to assess its dangers Head of the Biotechnology Laboratory of the Gamaleya Center Sergey Alkhovsky was quoted as sayingThis is a rather serious interesting discovery but it is very difficult to estimate the direct danger of this particular strain We can state that there is a multitude of these strains circulating in the wild and we need to study this multitude this genetic diversity and promote research in this area he said at the meeting of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of SciencesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever