Newly discovered coronavirus could cause high fatality, scientists warn: Report

Chinese scientists have warned of a potential threat of high fatality due to a newly discovered coronavirus. The NeoCoV virus discovered in South Africa is reportedly related to the Middle East respiratory syndrome MERS-COV. NeoCoV was found in bats in South Africa and spreads among animals, Sputnik reported. However, a new study has found that one mutation could lead to the virus being passed from animals to humans. 

A new study has found that NeoCoV and its close relative, PDF-2180-CoV have the ability to use some types of bat Angiotensin-converting enzyme2 (ACE2) and human ACE2 to enter the body. The researchers have insisted that one mutation could result in the virus getting transmitted to human cells, as per the Sputnik report. The revelation has been made by the scientists from the Wuhan University and Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The new study is not yet peer-reviewed and has been released in a preprint on bioRxiv.

Chinese scientists find NeoCoV carries both high mortality and high transmission rate

Based on their findings, the scientists have found that the potential danger linked to the new coronavirus is that it binds to the ACE2 receptor in a different manner than is done by the COVID-19 pathogen. As per the news report, the antibodies and the protein molecules formed in the people who have been ill with the respiratory disease and vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be able to protect them against it.

According to the scientists,  NeoCoV carries with it the potentially combined high mortality rate of MERS-CoV (where one in three infected people die on average) and the high transmission rate of the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, Sputnik reported.

Meanwhile, experts from the Vector Russian State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology have stated that they are aware of the data that Chinese researchers have found regarding the NeoCoV coronavirus, Sputnik reported. Furthermore, the Russian researchers insisted that the data does not reveal the emergence of a new coronavirus that could be transmitted among humans and added that the Chinese researchers have outlined potential risks which need further study. 

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