Five years removed from the onset of Covid-19's global sweep, research into a a further subset of the coronavirus has scientists worried about another possible pandemic. This virus originated in bats, as most experts believe Covid-19 did, and, for now, the research has stressed that it is unable to do much damage to humans. But a potential viral mutation may change that.
The pathogen in question is HKU5, which is naturally found in the Japanese house bat. HKU5 is a subgroup of the merbecovirus, which is itself a subcategory of the coronavirus that causes diseases like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications examined a "scalable approach to assess novel merbecovirus cell entry across the entire merbecovirus subgenus".
While HKU5 is unlikely to infect humans in its current form, scientists say there could be a shift if it were to mutate. Even though most merbecoviruses are "unlikely to have the capacity to infect humans, the HKU5 subgroup can", said Newsweek.
While there is "no evidence they've crossed into people yet, the potential is there – and that makes them worth watching," said Michael Letko, a virologist at Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and an author of the study.
But other researchers have downplayed the idea that HKU5 could ever make its way into humans. Even the "researchers themselves point out that this should not cause panic", Dr Amira Roess, a global health professor at George Mason University, told CNN. Research "helps us understand what happens in the event that this does spill over and pose a risk ... it's good to get ahead of that". | 
