Scientists in China identified a new infectious coronavirus in bats that can be transmitted to humans.
The news service Reuters reported the scientists say this bat coronavirus, named HKU5-CoV-2, is able to enter human cells in a similar way to the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19. However, comparatively, the newly identified bat virus is not as attracted in binding to the receptors of human cells. They found this by running isolated tests involving the new HKU5-CoV-2 virus and human cells at a virology lab.
The Chinese scientists published the discovery of their findings in Cell, a life sciences journal, last week.
Separate tests showed some immunity from HKU5’s family of strains for people who already had antibodies from prior infection of certain coronaviruses.
