A new coronavirus has been discovered in bats in China.

Chinese virologists have discovered a new coronavirus in bats that may infect humans, similar to Covid-19. This was reported by the South China Morning Post.

This new virus is called Hku5 and was first identified in a Japanese bat in Hong Kong.

The research was conducted in a laboratory in Guangzhou along with specialists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The leading scientific virologist was Shi Zhengli.

We report the discovery and isolation of a new strain of Hku5-CoV virus, which can use not only the bat's membrane protein Ace2 but also human Ace2 and other mammalian genes.

The researchers found that this virus isolated from bats can infect human cells.

They also warned that 'merbecoviruses in bats pose a high risk of transmission to humans through direct transmission or through intermediaries.'

Shi Zhengli's team notes that the new Hku5-CoV virus may have broader hosts and a higher potential for interspecies transmission. However, they caution that there is no reason for panic, as the risk of this virus emerging among humans is not great. Chinese experts believe that more detailed studies are needed.

The House of Representatives committee led by Republicans has completed its investigation into the origins of the coronavirus and concluded that the virus likely has a laboratory origin and spread through a leak from a lab in Wuhan.