A team of Chinese researchers has discovered a new bat coronavirus, HKU5-CoV-2, which has the potential to infect human cells. The virus, linked to the same family as MERS, was found to bind to human ACE2 receptors,

Researchers have discovered a virus that could enter human cells in a similar way to COVID-19. But they caution it's much more poorly adapted to humans.

A Chinese team discovered a new bat coronavirus that poses a risk of animal-to-human transmission as it uses the same human receptor as the COVID-19 virus, a Hong Kong daily reported on Thursday, citing the latest study.

The study found that HKU5-CoV-2 contains a furin cleavage site, a feature that enhances viral entry into cells via the ACE2 receptor. In laboratory experiments, the virus was able to infect human cells with high ACE2 levels, including models of human intestines and airways.

A media report underscores that the virus, found by a Chinese team of virologists, uses the same human receptor as the virus that causes Covid-19.

Researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China said they discovered a new coronavirus in bats that enters cells using the same gateway as the virus that causes Covid-19.

A new study led by Shi Zhengli, the Chinese scientist at the centre of research that’s suspected to have caused the Covid-19 pandemic, has found a new bat coronavirus that has a ‘high’ risk of spillov