Researchers believe they have pinpointed the exact type of bat responsible for spreading coronavirus – sparking hopes that future outbreaks can be contained.
Experts at the University of Hong Kong claim the Chinese Horseshoe Bat is the original host of the virus. The study pours cold water on Chinese propaganda that US troops were the real source of the outbreak.
Researchers replicated the bats’ intestines in a lab before trying to infect them with the virus. Researcher Dr Yuen Kwok-yung said: “The Chinese horseshoe bat may really be the original host of this SARS-CoV-2.” The coronavirus pandemic was said to have originated from animals at a Chinese wet market in Wuhan which also sold bats and exotic species for human consumption.