New York, Aug 5 (TIWN) As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread, scientists are seeking ways to keep the coronavirus from infecting tissues once they're exposed, now a new study suggests luring the virus with a decoy - an engineered, free-floating receptor protein - binds the disease and blocks infection.

To infect a human cell, a virus must first bind to a receptor protein on the surface of the cell, the study, published in the journal Science, said.   SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, binds to a receptor called ACE2, which plays a number of roles in regulating blood pressure, blood volume, and inflammation. It is found in tissues throughout the body, but especially in the lungs, heart, arteries, kidneys and intestines. Many researchers hypothesize that the host of symptoms associated with Covid-19 may stem from the coronavirus binding to ACE2 and keeping it from doing its job.