Chinese researchers find covid-like bat virus in the Wuhan Lab

Chinese researchers, led by a virologist whose work had triggered concerns regarding a possible Covid 19 laboratory leaving leaving leaving leaving leaving leaving, have discovered a new bat coronavirus that resembles those who cause Covid-19 that can infect humans.

The virus called HKU5-COV-2 can get into human cells through the ACE2 receptor, the same goal for the Sars-Cov-2 virus, which triggered a global pandemic five years ago.

The senior researcher is Shi Zhengli, who for years managed work on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a laboratory that was examined under the continuing questions about the origins of COVID-19.

The researchers collected almost 1,000 anal flows of Pipistrellus bats in five Chinese provinces and brought them to the state Wuhan Research Institute.

The virus is part of a different descent of coronaviruses, which also include the breathing virus of the Middle East. Laboratory tests show that this virus strain can infect a wide area of ​​mammals. The HKU5-COV-2 has the potential to jump from one way to another, according to researchers, the recent detection of virus sequences, which are closely related to HKU5-COV in Lander numbers.

The virus does not occur as easily as the Sars-Cov-2 virus in human cells, which indicates that the risk of its “origin in human populations should not be exaggerated”, the paper says. It also identified antibodies and antiviral medicines that aim at the virus.

The results of the virus made Richard Ebright concerns, a molecular biologist and laboratory director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University, which was critical of the Virus experiments of the Wuhan Institute.

“In nature, this virus represents the minimal threat to humans,” he said on February 25, the Epoch Times.

“However, this virus could lead to an extremely extremely threatening new organic monkey and pandemic pathogens.”

China is currently an increase in human metapneumovirus cases, while the regime continues to object to international probes from the origin of Covid-19.

In January, the CIA was the third US Executive Agency, which supported the theory that the Sars-Cov-2 virus may come from a Chinese laboratory.

Ebright was concerned that the newly discovered virus was reported and researched in view of her former research line, which he described as “ruthless”.

The non -profit EcoHealth alliance of the Pandemic Research, which used an official ban on finance from bat -coronavirus research in the Wuhan laboratory in January in January. The selected subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee in the Coronavirus pandemic said in its investigation it was found that the US group enabled laboratory experiments in Wuhan, which improve the characteristics of Coronavirus or winning functional research.

In a press conference on February 12, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that the Wuhan institute for Virology took part by winning the functional studies by Coronavirus.

Shi left her former facility and entered Guangzhou Labor as a researcher in May 2024. According to its website, the laboratory was set up in 2021 in order to concentrate on significant breathing diseases and prevention.

The virologist has published attitudes of postdoctoral researchers to join her team to examine aspiring infectious diseases, molecular epidemiology, viral transmission of intersections and molecular mechanisms of pulmonary inflammations from infections of the respiratory virals.

A dozen researchers from the Wuhan institute and six from their current laboratory were co -authors of the February research paper.

The centers for the control and prevention of diseases said that it was aware of the cell study, but there is no reason to assume that it is currently concerned about public health. “

“The publication shows that the bat virus can use a human protein to enter the cells in the laboratory, but they have not discovered any infections in humans,” said Paul Prince, spokesman for the center, the Epoch Times.

He added that the agency “continues to monitor the activity of viral diseases and provide important updates for the public”.

The Epoch Times turned to Shi to get a comment, but did not receive an answer after the publication time.

From the epoch times