The NeoCov, a type of coronavirus that has surfaced the news recently, does not pose actual danger in its current form and is, in fact, an old virus that is closely related to MERS CoV, experts said. According to scientists from the Wuhan University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Biophysics, NeoCov virus is associated with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak in 2012 and 2015 and is similar to the SARS-CoV-2.
The research, yet to be peer-reviewed, had raised alarm on social media. However, the virus, which uses bat ACE2 receptors, cannot bind to human ACE2 receptors unless it acquires a significant mutation, experts were quoted by the Times of India as saying.
“NeoCov can use ACE2 receptors of bats, but it cannot use human ACE2 receptors unless a new mutation occurs. Everything else that is being said about this virus is hype,” Dr Shashank Joshi, Maharashtra task force member, told TOI.
Vinod Scaria, principal scientist at Delhi-based CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology allayed fears about deaths caused by NeoCov. He said that the virus, in natural form, does not infect humans and since it has not infected any humans yet, it has not caused any deaths.
Although zoonotic spillover – transmission of a virus from animals to humans – is a rare occurrence, regular surveillance of such viruses are essential in understanding them and the early warnings of any possible spillovers.
Another expert, virologist Dr Shahid Jameel, said NeoCov has been found in a kind of bat and is the closest so far in its genetic makeup to MERS CoV that emerged in humans via camels in 2012. MERS does not transmit among humans very well and will require close animal contact, he said. Jameel also agreed that it is “good to know that something out there with the potential to jump” in the future so we can be prepared.
Dr Sanjya Pujari, an ICMR Task Force member on Clinical Research for Covid-19, confirmed to TOI that there is no need to panic at present as NeoCoV is closer to MERS CoV because of its ability to use the ACE-2 receptor in bats but not in humans.
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