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Thursday, Apr 23, 2020

Is the habitat of a coronavirus-carrying bat hundreds of miles away from Wuhan?

Robyn Sundlee, Gigafact Foundry
yes

The bat first identified as the most likely source of the coronavirus is the intermediate horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus affinis). The bat virus sample most similar to the human coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic was found in a cave near the city of Kunming in China's Yunnan province. Wuhan, where the human coronavirus was first identified, is 800 miles away.

The virus's route from the cave to Wuhan is unclear, and may include intermediate species before infecting the first human hosts. More testing of animal virus strains is needed to pinpoint more precisely the species, sequence and places involved before scientists can be sure which species passed the virus to humans.

Update: In October 2021 The New York Times reported that bat coronaviruses newly found in Laos were highly infectious to humans and possessed a similar molecular structure to SARS-CoV-2.

Sources

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