Pangolins may not have passed coronavirus on to humans, Chinese scientists say

Although the animals, also known as scaly anteaters, carry a very similar virus to the one that causes Covid-19, researchers say the genetic relationship is not close enough

Virologist Zhang Zhigang says the search for the intermediate host should focus on animals that share habitats with bats and pangolins

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Pangolins have been one of the main focuses of the search for the intermediate host of the virus. Photo: Imaginechina

Published: 9:00am, 26 Mar 2020Updated: 3:47pm, 27 Mar 2020

Pangolins are unlikely to have been the hosts that passed the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 on to humans, Chinese researchers said, adding that the search should focus on wild animals that share their habitats.

The endangered mammals, also known as scaly anteaters, have been identified as a possible intermediate host after a series of papers highlighted the close relationship between Sars-CoV-2, as the coronavirus is known, and similar viruses found in pangolins.

But a team led by Zhang Zhigang from Yunnan University, told Chinese publication Science Daily on Wednesday that the evidence suggested that these genetic similarities did not pass the generally accepted 99 per cent threshold needed to make the virus jump from pangolins to humans.

Researchers around the world are trying to track the way the new coronavirus infected humans and to put a stop to the pandemic, which has infected more than 400,000 people and killed more than 18,000.

Zhang said animals such as bats and pangolins were known to be natural hosts of similar viruses to Sars-CoV-2, but natural hosts normally could not pass these on to humans.