In the organisms of bats that have been lying in freezers in Japan and Cambodia for several years, scientists have discovered for the first time a coronavirus related to the cause of the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The journal Nature reports this.
So, the virus was found in the bodies of two animals in Cambodia, stored since 2010. If it turns out that the infection found in their bodies coincides at least 97 percent with COVID-19, this will provide significant information about the ways the virus is transmitted from mice to humans, as well as its origin.
“Regardless of what exactly the Cambodian team discovered, both discoveries are impressive because they confirm that viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 are relatively common in horseshoe bats and even in bats found outside of China “, – quotes the journal as a biologist from Vietnam Alice Latin.
The infection found in animals caught in 2013 in Japan matched from the current one by 81.5 percent. This share is too small for the virus to become a source of data on the origin of COVID-19 – only on the variety of coronaviruses. In addition, it cannot be transmitted to humans.