Novel coronavirus most likely came from Asian bat: Hong Kong study

Microbiologists at University of Hong Kong replicate cell structure of Chinese horseshoe bat’s intestine and successfully infect it

Taken together with earlier research, the findings indicate the animal may be the original host of the virus, Dr Yuen Kwok-yung says

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Chinese horseshoe bats are found in China, India, Nepal and Vietnam, among other countries. Photo: Guangdong Entomological Institute

Published: 8:28pm, 13 May 2020Updated: 9:27pm, 13 May 2020

The novel coronavirus that sparked the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to have come from bats found in Asia, according to a new study by the University of Hong Kong.

The university’s microbiology department created a group of cells that resembled the intestine of the Chinese horseshoe bat, a species found in China, India, Nepal and Vietnam, among others. Researchers were able to successfully infect the cell structure with the coronavirus, known as Sars-CoV-2.

Earlier research had found the bat species carried a virus like the one that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and which was similar to the novel coronavirus. The findings, taken together, meant “the Chinese horseshoe bat may really be the original host of this SARS-CoV-2”, microbiologist Dr Yuen Kwok-yung, who co-led the study, told the Post.

The study, also led by Assistant Professor Jane Zhou Jie, was published in the international journal Nature Medicine on Wednesday.

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But Yuen said further studies needed to be conducted in the wild to confirm the origin of the virus.

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