On February 25, according to the US CDC, there is currently no evidence that the bat virus detected in China can infect humans, so there is no reason to worry about the risk of an outbreak.
TheCDC knows about a new strain of corona virus in bats, but there is no reason to suggest that this strain poses a public health concern, the agency affirmed in its official announcement.
Previously, on February 21, a group of Chinese researchers, including experts from the virus Institute of Wenzhan and Guangzhou University of Medicine, published a study in the journal Cell on a new virus that can infect humans.
This virus is named HKU5-CoV-2, belonging to the merbecovirus group, including the Mersers-CoV virus - the cause of the previous Middle East flu epidemic. Notably, the HKU5-CoV-2 virus is likely to bind to ACE2 receptors, similar to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly after the new virus was released, some scientists believe that its infection rate is significantly lower than that of COVID-19. Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, said that some sides' reaction to this study was "excessive bloating".
He also stressed that the public's immunity to SARS viruses has increased significantly compared to 2019, which helps reduce the risk of a new pandemic.
