deleting the current "latest" tgz version from an NPM hosted repo removes the latest tag instead of replacing it with newest published version

SYMPTOM:

Can't download the asset after removing one version of an NPM component from a NPM hosted repository.

REPRODUCE STEPS:

1. Create a npm hosted repository: npm-hosted
2. Create and publish "mytest" with version 1.0.0, 1.1.0, 1.2.0

   # Change below to your Nexus npm hosted repository URL:
   _NXRM_URL="http://dh1:8081/repository/npm-hosted"
   mkdir -v mytest; cd mytest
   cat << EOF > ./package.json
   {
       "author": "nxrm test",
       "description": "reproducing issue",
       "keywords": [],
       "license": "ISC",
       "main": "index.js",
       "name": "mytest",
       "publishConfig": {
           "registry": "${_NXRM_URL}"
       },
       "scripts": {
           "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
       },
       "version": "1.0.0"
   }
   EOF
   for i in {0..2}; do
     sed -i.tmp -E 's/"version": "1.[0-9].0"/"version": "1.'${i}'.0"/' ./package.json
     npm publish --registry "${_NXRM_URL}" -ddd || break
     sleep 1
   done
   cd -
   

3. Make sure "npm pack mytest" downloads v1.2.0

   npm pack mytest --registry "${_NXRM_URL}"
   

4. From your browser, go to mytest/mytest-1.2.0.tgz, and click [ Delete asset ], or delete with curl

   curl -u admin:admin123 -X DELETE ${_NXRM_URL%/}/mytest/-/mytest-1.2.0.tgz
   

5. Try "npm pack mytest" again

   npm cache clean --force
   npm pack mytest --registry "${_NXRM_URL}"
   

EXPECTED BEHAVIOUR:

The "npm pack mytest" should download v1.1.0.

NPM package metadata MUST ALWAYS have a latest tag according to package metadata docs, the full package metadata format, under the dist-tags section , "Every package will have a latest tag defined"

ACTUAL BEHAVIOUR:

npm ERR! code ETARGET
npm ERR! notarget No matching version found for mytest@latest.
npm ERR! notarget In most cases you or one of your dependencies are requesting
npm ERR! notarget a package version that doesn't exist.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/testuser/.npm/_logs/2021-11-08T05_15_16_193Z-debug.log

Also, the dist-tags in the metadata is empty:

POTENTIAL CAUSE:

When an asset is deleted from a NPM component, can't find any metadata recreate method such as NpmPackageRootMetadataUtils#createFullPackageMetadata is used.