China experimenting with deadly Covid-like virus that could affect humans: Report
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If a report doing the rounds on a database of pre-peer reviewed journal articles is to be believed, China has been experimenting with a new deadly Covid-like virus which is 100 per cent fatal to mice and could affect humans.
The paper published on bioRxiv website on January 3 claimed that doctors trained by the Chinese military made their version of the so-called "pangolin coronavirus" and gave it to a group of mice to see what would happen.
"Four mice inoculated with inactivated virus and four mock-infected mice were used as controls. Surprisingly, all the mice that were infected with the live virus succumbed to the infection within 7-8 days post-inoculation," the paper said.
Deaths linked to brain infection
Experts found that the four mice given the virus lost weight within five days after being infected. On the seventh day, the mice started to become sluggish and their eyes went white.
"In the mice infected with live virus, the viral load in the lungs significantly decreased by day 6; both the viral RNA loads and viral titers in the brain samples were relatively low on day 3, but substantially increased by day 6. This finding suggested that severe brain infection during the later stages of infection may be the key cause of death in these mice," the paper further said.
Researchers said that the cause of death may be linked to the occurrence of late brain infection.
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The virus had not only spread to the mice's bodies but also reached critical organs such as the brain, eyes, and lungs.
"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing that a SARS-CoV-2-related pangolin coronavirus can cause 100% mortality in hACE2 mice, suggesting a risk for GX_P2V to spill over into humans," the researchers added.
China warns of potential resurgence of Covid
Chinese authorities on Sunday warned of a potential resurgence of Covid this month driven by the JN.1 subvariant. The National Health Commission (NHC) highlighted the increasing presence of JN.1 and said that multiple respiratory diseases were likely to spread this winter and next spring.
"Influenza viruses are expected to remain the dominant pathogen," Wang Dayan, head of the Chinese National Influenza Center, told reporters.
He attributed the JN.1's rise to several factors including imported cases, lower influenza rates and declining population immunity.
(With inputs from agencies)