HONG KONG, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) – A Chinese study has found 142 bat coronaviruses linked to the one that caused the SARS outbreak nearly two decades ago, but none closely linked to the virus that caused the COVID-19, the South China Morning Post reported.
In an article uploaded to the Research Square preprint server on Monday, researchers at the Beijing Institute of Pathogen Biology revealed that they have collected and tested samples from more than 4,700 bats in areas of China since January 2020. , in addition to the thousands tested since 2016.
The latest research on bats, believed to be the original species of the virus, has focused on samples collected from more than 13,000 bats of 56 species across 14 provinces since 2016.
Scientists suggest that viruses believed to be closest to SARS-CoV-2 are “extremely rare” in bats in China.
“These are the first new sampling that I have seen from a well-known group of Chinese scientists on the SARS-linked coronavirus in bats in China since the pandemic,” said Peter Daszak, as quoted by the newspaper. Mr Daszak is a disease ecologist and participated in a study conducted by the World Health Organization in China earlier this year.
Leo Poon Lit-man, from the University of Hong Kong, called the work an important step in helping researchers determine which regions and species may harbor closer viruses. End
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