Virus Bearing Genetic Resemblance To SARS-CoV-2 Linked To 2012 Outbreak In China - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th July, 2020) A virus that bears genetic resemblance to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, may have been discovered in China in 2012, according to a study conducted by the Sunday Times newspaper.

According to the newspaper, scientists identified a deadly new virus in a copper mine in the country's Yunnan province, after six men who worked in the mine shaft contracted severe pneumonia in 2012. Three of the individuals later died in hospital.

Tests conducted on the infected mine workers later found that they possessed antibodies of a previously unknown coronavirus that bore resemblance to SARS-CoV, the virus that caused the SARS outbreak in 2002, the newspaper stated.

Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology studied the mysterious virus, naming it RaBtCov/4991, the newspaper stated.

Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, told the newspaper that the virus was renamed RaTG13 for a resulting academic study.

According to an academic paper, this virus is a 96.2 percent genetic match with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the newspaper reports, adding that experts are undecided on the likelihood of RaTG13 having mutated into the virus that causes COVID-19.

Leading officials in Washington, including President Donald Trump, have alleged that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan. The Chinese government has consistently denied these accusations, saying that they lack scientific evidence.