China: Amidst the looming threats dreaded by Omicron, scientists at Wuhan claim to have detected another variant of the SARS-CoV2. Called the NeoCov, it is predicted to be related to the Middle East respiratory syndrome MERS-coronavirus. Reportedly, NeoCov is the virus linked to the outbreaks in 2012 and 2015 in the Middle East. It was then studied that the variant was found in bats and had exclusively spread amongst their species.
According to the researchers, NeoCoV carries with it 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. Further, the studies claimed the current vaccines ineffective against the new variant. The research paper that was published on a local website added, “Considering the extensive mutations in the RBD regions of the SARS-CoV-2 variants, especially the heavily mutated omicron variant, these viruses may hold a latent potential to infect humans through further adaptation via antigenic drift.”
Battling the South African variant, nations across have recorded reduced hospitalizations and mortalities in comparison to the infections caused by the ancestor Delta variant. The WHO cites the expediated vaccination programs as a major step to cut down mortalities globally.