The discovery of a new bat-borne coronavirus in China capable of entering human cells is raising alarm over the possibility of future pandemics similar in scale to COVID-19.

Researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology recently reported that HKU5-CoV-2 can enter human cells using the same ACE2 receptors that played a significant role in COVID-19’s spread, though no human infections have been reported.

Bloomberg reported that samples of HKU5-CoV-2 were collected by swabbing hundreds of Pipistrellus bats across China’s Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Guangxi provinces. Analysis revealed that the emerging virus belongs to a line of coronaviruses that includes the one causing Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

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