A new kind of potentially dangerous coronavirus associated with a COVID-19 virus has been discovered at the UK platforms. This is reported in an article published in Research Square Preprints repository.
Researchers gathered samples of feces more than 50 small bats in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wales and sent them to viral analysis. As a result of the sequencing of the genome, a new coronavirus was revealed in one of the samples of a bat, which scientists called RHGB01. It refers to sarbecoviruses, that is, coronaviruses associated with atypical pneumonia.
Experts claim that small horseshoe bats are certainly the carriers of the virus for a very long time. RHGB01 is unlikely to represent a direct danger to a person, but it can mutate in the future, if a person sick with COVID-19 will give SARS-COV-2 bat carrier. Therefore, people who can contact with these animals, such as speleologists, should wear personal protective equipment.
Similar viruses were found in other types of horseshoe bats in China, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.