Scientists from China’s Wuhan, where the Corona virus was first discovered in 2019, have warned about a new type of coronavirus ‘NeoCov’ in South Africa. This new NeoCov virus is stated to have a high death and transmission rate.

According to reports, this NeoCov is not new and is associated with the MERS-CoV virus which was discovered in Middle Eastern countries during 2012 and 2015 outbreaks. It is similar to the SARS-CoV-2, that causes coronavirus in humans.

Even though NeoCoV was discovered in bat population in South Africa and has only been known to spread among bats, a new study revealed that NeoCoV and its close relative PDF-2180-CoV can infect humans as well.

Chinese researchers revealed that NeoCoV carries the potential combination of MERS-high CoV’s mortality rate (one in every three infected person dies) and the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus’s high transmission rate.