New Delhi: Scientists in Wuhan have warned of a new variant of coronavirus—NeoCov, currently circulating in South Africa. The New strain reportedly related to the Middle East respiratory syndrome MERS-COV. According to a report by the Russian news agency Sputnik. NeoCoV which was first found in bats in South Africa have a high death and transmission rate.
Sputnik, however, claimed that NeoCov is not new as in 2012 and 2015, it was discovered in outbreaks in Middle Eastern countries. Carrying the potentially combined high mortality rate of MERS-CoV (where one in three infected people die on average) and the high transmission rate of the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, NeoCoV can not be cured by antibodies nor protein molecules produced by people with respiratory diseases.
Following the findings, experts from the Russian State Virology and Biotechnology Research Center issued a statement and said that the potential risks outlined needed to be studied and probed further.
“The Vector research centre is aware of the data obtained by Chinese researchers on the NeoCoV coronavirus. At the moment, the issue is not the emergence of a new coronavirus capable of actively spreading among humans,” News 18 reported quoting the statement.
This comes after the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, Maria van Kerkhove claimed that Omicron will not be the last variant of the coronavirus and there could be more in the future.
“This virus is still evolving and changing and we need to change and adjust accordingly. We not only have to increase the vaccination coverage around the world, but also try and transition out. It will not end with the latest wave and Omicron will not be the last variant we speak about, unfortunately,” Maria van Kerkhove told the BBC in an interview.
Source : India.com