Lab studies at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China show it may have the potential to infect humans.
The HKU5-CoV-2 virus resembles COVID because it targets the same human receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2), according to research published in the scientific journal Cell.
The virus doesn't enter human cells as easily as COVID, the researchers said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday, Feb. 24 that there is no reason to believe the strain currently poses a threat to public health, and that there are no known human infections as of now.
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