A new virus that has been discovered in certain bats in Russia is causing concern among scientists. Experts have warned that Russian horseshoe bats have been found to carry a new virus called 'Khosta-2', which is categorised as a sarbecovirus - the same kind as Covid-19.Covid has infected over 600 million people all over the world since the pandemic began, but there are now warnings that this new virus could be resistant to our vaccinations.Khosta-2 displays some "troubling traits" according to a study in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
The journal explains that hundreds of sarbecoviruses have been discovered - most commonly in bats in Asia - and the majority of them can't infect human cells, Hull Live reports.
However, a team at Washington State University (WSU) also found that the virus can use its spike proteins to infect human cells in a similar fashion to the way Covid does.The journal also explains that the new virus was resistant to neutralisation by serum from people who have been vaccinated against Covid.
Michael Letko, a virologist at WSU and corresponding author of the study, said that the virus was "a threat to global health and ongoing vaccine campaigns against SARS-CoV-2", Euronews reports.