China identifies new coronavirus strain, sparking global health concerns

February 26, 2025

The new strain, named HKU5-CoV-2, was found in horseshoe bats in China and can bind to human cells in the same way as SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid-19.

A new coronavirus strain has been identified in China, which could potentially spread among humans. This discovery echoes the early stages of Covid when researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology found a new virus strain in bats.

The newly discovered virus is reportedly related to MERS, another coronavirus with a high fatality rate, killing up to a third of those infected. This news has put global health officials on high alert, considering the devastating impact of Covid-19 since its emergence in 2019.

Tests revealed that the new virus, named HKU5-CoV-2, infiltrates human cells similarly to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid. The Beijing-funded researchers shared their findings in the journal Cell, warning that the new virus poses a ‘high risk of spillover to humans, either through direct transmission or facilitated by intermediate hosts,’ reports the Mirror US.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday that the new coronavirus found in bats is currently “not a cause for concern.”

There is no reason to believe the virus poses a threat to public health at the moment and no infections have been detected in humans, according to the federal health agency.

“CDC is aware of a publication about a new bat coronavirus, but there is no reason to believe it currently poses a concern to public health,” the agency said in a statement. “The publication referenced demonstrates that the bat virus can use a human protein to enter cells in the laboratory, but they have not detected infections in humans.”

HKU5-CoV-2 belongs to the merbecovirus group, which also includes the virus causing MERS. Due to its ability to bind to human ACE2, it has a higher potential to infect humans than other coronaviruses, similar to SARS-CoV-2 and NL63 – a common cold virus.

This discovery follows a recent increase in cases of the flu-like human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China, sparking concerns of another pandemic similar to Covid.

We’re approaching the five-year mark since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most lethal global outbreaks in history. The virus, known as SARS-CoV-2, originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and rapidly spread across Asia and the rest of the world by early 2020.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a public health emergency in January 2020 and officially recognised it as a pandemic on March 11. In October 2024, following a spike in COVID-19 cases in the UK, health professionals urged the public to be vigilant for four key symptoms.

The XEC strain of coronavirus, a fusion of the BX1.1 and BM 3.3 variants, is driving infections nationwide. Initially identified in Germany, this highly transmissible variant has now reached 27 countries across Europe, Asia, and North America.