Trump backs Kimmel suspension, fuels national free speech debate
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed the suspension of talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel and suggested broadcasters should lose licenses over negative cover...
A newly discovered bat coronavirus uses the same cell-surface protein to gain entry into human cells as the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, raising the possibility that it could someday spread to humans, Chinese researchers have reported.
The virus does not enter human cells as readily as SARS-CoV-2 does, the Chinese researchers reported in the journal Cell, noting some of its limitations.
The scientists said that like SARS-CoV-2, the bat virus HKU5-CoV-2 contains a feature known as the furin cleavage site that helps it to enter cells via the ACE2 receptor protein on cell surfaces.
In lab experiments, HKU5-CoV-2 infected human cells with high ACE2 levels in test tubes and in models of human intestines and airways.
In further experiments, the researchers identified monoclonal antibodies and antiviral drugs that target the bat virus.
Bloomberg, which reported on the study earlier on Friday, said the paper identifying the bat virus had moved shares of COVID vaccine makers. Pfizer shares closed up 1.5% on Friday, Moderna climbed 5.3% and Novavax was up about 1% on a down day for the broader market.
Asked about concerns raised by the report of another pandemic resulting from this new virus, Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, called the reaction to the study "overblown."
He said there is a lot of immunity in the population to similar SARS viruses compared with 2019, which may reduce the pandemic risk.
The study itself noted that the virus has significantly less binding affinity to human ACE2 than SARS-CoV-2, and other suboptimal factors for human adaptation suggest the "risk of emergence in human populations should not be exaggerated."
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
The World Health Organization has started vaccinating frontline health workers and contacts of Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai province, where the virus outbreak has already claimed 16 lives.
Japan has reached a record 99,763 centenarians as of September 1, with women accounting for roughly 88 percent, marking the 55th consecutive year the country has hit this milestone.
The World Health Organization has added GLP-1 drugs to treat diabetes to its essential medicines list, alongside treatments for cystic fibrosis and cancer, and said it hopes this will improve global access to the costly drugs.
Zambia has formalised a strategic partnership with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) to bolster domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity, the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) announced on Friday.
Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome was airlifted to hospital in Toulon after suffering a training crash which left him with broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a back fracture, his team Israel-Premier Tech said on Thursday (August 28).
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