Experts have rejected the claim that the novel coronavirus is said to be similar to the SARS virus. This rumor had caused panic on Chinese social media. Although there are some genetic similarities between the two viruses, both use the same ACE2 receptor to penetrate cells, for example, but it is not correct to call the coronavirus a type of SARS virus.
The controversy was sparked on Sunday evening by a statement by virologist Chen Huanchun that quickly went viral in the Chinese media. Numerous scientists have tried to refute the claim. Chen later apologized for his mistake, stressing that he only wanted to emphasize that both viruses belong to the same broad category of beta corona viruses.
The SARS epidemic between 2002 and 2003 remains a sensitive nerve to the Chinese public as it was the first virus outbreak in the 21st century to seriously question the country’s public health infrastructure and response mechanisms.
The visible symptoms of SARS are also more serious and have a mortality rate of 9.6 percent, which is higher than that of the novel corona virus. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates its mortality rate to be around 2 to 4 percent.
As a result, the scientists were very careful when comparing the two corona viruses. Zhong Nanshan, the leading expert on China’s epidemic, has denied Chen’s claim. “The novel corona virus belongs to a parallel classification of the SARS virus,” he said. “They may belong to the same category, but they are not of the same type. They are very different.”
According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, only seven of the coronaviruses discovered can infect humans. Four are alpha coronaviruses and the other three are beta coronaviruses such as SARS, nCoV and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
According to Lancet magazine, the novel coronavirus and SARS share about 79 percent of their genetic sequence, which means that they are related but still very different organisms. According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, humans share 96 percent of their genes with chimpanzees and 80 percent with cows.
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