The 'NeoCoV' Virus: Should You Be Concerned?

For several days now, online people have been busy looking up a potential new virus that has been flagged by a number of publications in China and India; NeoCoV. What is this virus and should it be an alarming one?

Every year since the early weeks of 2020, people keep on having "new pandemic scares," ones that are triggered by news of possibly novel viruses that could add to the troubles humanity has been having since the COVID-19 outbreak more than two years ago.

This week has witnessed the latest pandemic scare, a virus called NeoCoV, and it is said to have been detected in South Africa but by scientists from the same Chinese city that detected COVID-19; Wuhan.

While online people are panicking and sharing predictions of what this virus could be and whether it is life-threatening or not, this article will summarize all the information available so far but will conclude that no one needs to worry about it, at least so far.

What is NeoCoV?

According to scientists in Wuhan, the new virus that has been called the NeoCoV has ONLY been detected in bats, as no humans have yet contracted it.

This new virus seems to be similar to the MERS-CoV virus, also known as the Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus, which spread in a number of Middle Eastern countries around 2012. However, the study noted that neither COVID-19 antibodies nor those of MERS-CoV were able to curb or identify the NeoCoV.

The study also feared that the new virus, NeoCoV, could be more fatal than the COVID-19 that is being tackled by the world since 2020, as potential transmission to humans could kill 1 in every 3 infected people.

Should you worry about the NeoCoV?

Not yet! The World Health Organization, which was the first to draw global attention to the COVID-19 on the 30th of January 2020, has warned social media users against spreading panic because of the findings of this study, explaining that it has not yet been peer-reviewed and can not form the basis of fears of a new pandemic.

The global organization also called on people to keep following only trusted scientific conclusions and further studies before spreading fear even further.