Covid-19 origins: Chinese study uncovers over 140 bat coronaviruses but says none linked to pandemic

[Mary Wilson]

Published: 10:30pm, 21 Sep, 2021

Simone McCarthy

• Since January 2020, team has tested samples from 4,700 bats in regions across the country, finding close relationship with Sars but not Covid-19
• Scientists suggest viruses considered closest to Sars-CoV-2 are ‘extremely rare’ in bats in China

Chinese scientists have uncovered 142 bat coronaviruses related to the one that causes Sars, but none closely linked to the virus that causes Covid-19, according to the largest release of related research from within China since the start of the pandemic.

In a paper uploaded on the preprint server Research Square on Monday, researchers from the Institute of Pathogen Biology in Beijing revealed they had collected and tested samples from more than 4,700 bats in regions across the country since January 2020 adding to the thousands tested since 2016.

The paper is the first to provide key details about the scope of bat sampling to find close ancestors of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, conducted since the outbreak was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/sci...9-origins-chinese-study-uncovers-over-140-bat