Chinese researchers have said that they had found a batch of new coronaviruses in bats. The newly found viruses in the bats include one that may be the second-closest yet (genetically) to the COVID-19 virus, CNN reported. The researchers say that their discoveries in southwestern China show just how many coronaviruses are there in bats and how many have the potential to spread to people.In a report published in the journal Cell, the Chinese researchers from Shandong University said, "In total, we assembled 24 novel coronavirus genomes from different bat species, including four SARS-CoV-2 like coronaviruses. "The samples were collected from small, forest-dwelling bats between May 2019 and November 2020. The researchers say that they tested urine and feces as well as taking swabs from the bats' mouths.
According to the Chinese researchers, one of the viruses was very similar, genetically to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that's causing the ongoing pandemic. "It would be the closest strain to SARS-CoV-2 except for genetic differences on the spike protein, the knob-like structure that the virus uses when attaching to cells," they said. "Together with the SARS-CoV-2 related virus collected from Thailand in June 2020, these results clearly demonstrate that viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 continue to circulate in bat populations, and in some regions might occur at a relatively high frequency," they wrote. The origin of COVID-19 has been shrouded in mystery ever since the outbreak of the pandemic began in a year ago. Shi Zhengli, the top bat coronavirus researcher from Wuhan Institute of Virology, said in a March 2020 article in Scientific American that the genetic code of the virus that causes Covid-19 doesn’t match any of her lab’s samples. She also told the WHO team that all staff had tested negative for Covid-19 antibodies. Chinese officials have repeatedly raised the specter that the virus originated elsewhere in the world, and was brought into the country either through frozen-food imports or even a U.S. military operation. Foreign Ministry officials have repeatedly called for the U.S. to provide access to Fort Detrick in Maryland, which is home to the American bio-defense agency.