Wuhan: Scientists discovers ‘NeoCoV’ new yet more deadlier variant of COVID-19

The Omicron-variant of COVID-19 is not over yet. A new variant of the novel coronavirus- NeoCov-has just bounced out after scientists from Wuhan, where the COVID-19 pandemic first originated, raising concerns about that it may have a much fast rate of transmission as compared to previous variants of COVID-19 and is expected that it could be the deadliest among all.

As per the research study conducted by scientists in Wuhan, NeoCov is related to the Middle East respiratory syndrome or MERS-coronavirus. The study got published on the bioRxiv website and is yet to be completely reviewed.

The virus was first traced in South Africa, and it is only known to be spread among only animals. But it has been found that NeoCov and PDF-2180-CoV use some types of angiotensin-converting enzyme, including bat ACE2 and human ACE2, for entry.

Meanwhile, it is not a new kind of variant. The MERS-CoV virus is similar to the SARS-CoV-2 in terms of symptoms like cough, fever, shortness of breath and was prevailing in the mid-eastern nations in 2012 and 2015. Many people have succumbed to the illness.

Based on findings, the research has stated that MERS-CoV belongs to the lineage C of Beta-CoV (Merbecoviruses), which brings a significant threat considering its high case-fatality rate of around 35 per cent.

The scientists have added in the study that, “the study explains the first case of ACE2 usage in MERS-related viruses, putting light on a potential bio-safety threat of the human emergence of an ACE2 using “MERS-CoV-2″ with both high fatality and high rate of transmission.”

The researchers have further added that, “Immunity that has been earlier triggered by the old illness or vaccine of rest of the variants of COVID-19 might be insufficient to provide safety to humans against NeoCoV and PDF-2180-CoV infections because neither SARS-CoV-2 anti-sera nor ten tested anti-MERS-CoV nanobodies can cross-prevent the illness caused by these two viruses.”