Chinese researchers claim to have discovered a new batch of Coronaviruses in bats which includes one that maybe genetically the second-closest thing to COVID-19 virus. The new research surfaces even as the origins of SARS-CoV-2 is being probed

New Delhi: Chinese researchers claim to have discovered a new batch of coronaviruses in bats which includes one that maybe genetically the second-closest thing to COVID-19 virus. The new research surfaces even as the origins of SARS-CoV-2 is being probed.

The research is being conducted by Weifeng Shi of the University of Shandong and his colleagues in a single, small region of Yunnan province, southwestern China, CNN reported.

As per a journal published in the Cell, the group assembled 24 novel coronavirus genomes from different bat species, including four SARS-CoV-2 like coronaviruses.

"Our study highlights the remarkable diversity of bat coronaviruses at the local scale, including close relatives of both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV," they wrote. The bat species they sampled are common across Southeast Asia, including southwest China, Vietnam, Laos and elsewhere.

Their study shows just how many Coronaviruses there are in bats and how many have the potential to spread to people. The researchers collected samples from small, forest-dwelling bats between May, 2019 and November, 2020 and tested urine, feces, and also swabs from the bats’ mouths.

Of these, a viral sample called RpYN06 taken from a horseshoe bat species called Rhinolophus pusillus, was found to be genetically very similar to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that’s causing the current pandemic. However, there were genetic differences on the spike protein, the knob-like structure that the virus uses when attaching to cells.

This discovery of new coronaviruses comes close to a time when scientists are calling for investigations into the virus outbreak if it was originated naturally or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.