Discovery of New Bat Coronavirus (HKU5-CoV-2): Can it be Another Public Health Threat?
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Keywords
Public Health, Bats, HKU5-CoV-2, Risk, Transmission
Abstract
The deadly COVID-19 outbreak which started in Wuhan city of China in December 2019, created a dangerous Public Health Disaster the world has ever witnessed. Bats have been widely recognised as natural reservoir hosts of several zoonotic diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) caused by coronaviruses. A new bat coronavirus similar to the virus resembling COVID-19, has been discovered recently by researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. The new virus named as ‘HKU5-CoV-2, carries the risk of animal-to-human transmission. This paper shares the most recent information on the virus and views of other eminent scientists regarding its potential to start another pandemic.
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