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"Bat Lady" Research Team In Wuhan 'Find' COVID-Like Virus That Can Infect Humans

"Bat Lady" Research Team In Wuhan 'Find' COVID-Like Virus That Can Infect Humans

Gulf Insider01-03-2025
Chinese researchers, led by a virologist whose work had fueled concerns about a possible COVID-19 lab leak, have discovered a new bat coronavirus that is similar to the one that causes COVID-19, and that is capable of infecting humans.
The virus, called HKU5-CoV-2, can enter human cells through the ACE2 receptor, the same gateway for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that sparked a global pandemic five years ago, according to a study recently published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Cell.
The lead researcher is Shi Zhengli, who, for years, led work on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab that has been under scrutiny amid ongoing questions about the origins of COVID-19.
The researchers collected nearly 1,000 anal swabs from pipistrellus bats across five Chinese provinces and took them to the state-owned Wuhan research institute.
The virus belongs to a distinct lineage of coronaviruses that also include the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus. Lab experiments indicate this virus strain may infect a wide range of mammals. The HKU5-CoV-2 has the potential to jump from one species to another, researchers said, noting the recent detection of viral sequences closely related to HKU5-CoV in farmed minks.
The virus doesn't enter human cells as readily as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, suggesting the risk of its 'emergence in human populations should not be exaggerated,' the paper states. The researchers also identified antibodies and antiviral drugs that target the virus.
Findings about the virus raised concerns from Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist and laboratory director at Rutgers University's Waksman Institute of Microbiology, who has been critical of the Wuhan Institute's virus experiments.
'In nature, this virus poses minimal threat to humans,' he told The Epoch Times on Feb. 25.
'However, [with] laboratory enhancement of transmissibility or pathogenicity, this virus could create a highly extremely threatening new bioweapons agent and pandemic pathogen.'
China is currently experiencing a surge of human metapneumovirus cases while the regime continues to resist international probes of the origin of COVID-19.
In January, the CIA became the third U.S. executive agency to back the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have come from a Chinese lab.
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Most COVID Lung Abnormalities Heal Over Time, New Guidelines Confirm

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Americans Reject Fall COVID Shot, Don't Trust CDC Or FDA
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Gulf Insider

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These findings follow a growing body of evidence discrediting the effectiveness and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. 📊 Americans Say 'No' to COVID Shot as Trust in CDC, FDA Crumbles🚨 59% of Americans refuse the fall COVID jab📉 Fewer than half trust CDC/FDA on vaccine safety🧠 Even The Hill is admitting it—kind ofIn this report, I break down the KFF poll, the media spin, RFK Jr.'s… — Jon Fleetwood (@JonMFleetwood) August 5, 2025 A recent JAMA Health Forum study admitted that the shots 'saved far fewer lives than first thought,' especially in younger shots have been linked to 38,709 deaths, 221,030 hospitalizations, and a total of 1,665,264 injuries—though these numbers represent less than 1% of actual adverse events, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-commissioned report by Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare. These staggering figures may help explain why a clear majority of Americans are now refusing the shot. Just 49% of U.S. adults say they have confidence in federal health agencies like the CDC and FDA to ensure the safety and effectiveness of vaccines approved for use in the U.S. Only 42% believe these agencies make decisions based on science rather than the personal views of agency officials. Just 37% believe the CDC and FDA act independently, without influence from outside interests. These numbers reflect the ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 response, which congressional investigators recently confirmed involved the CDC and White House using 'deeply flawed' messaging and 'overpromising' vaccine safety 'without evidence.' This collapse in public trust is unsurprising given the government's admitted reliance on arbitrary '6-feet' distancing rules, unproven mask mandates, and harmful lockdowns—none of which were grounded in transparent science, but all of which inflicted lasting damage on public health, the economy, and institutional credibility, according to a two-year investigation by the Congressional Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Public awareness of recent changes to U.S. vaccine policy remains limited, despite multiple headlines since the appointment of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—likely due to mainstream media blackout, institutional resistance, and a legacy press unwilling to cover reforms that threaten the pharmaceutical establishment. (This is why independent media is so important.) 52% say RFK Jr. has made changes to U.S. vaccine policy. Only 26% describe those changes as 'major.' 40% say they don't know enough to characterize the changes. 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