Japanese scientists have found a virus similar to COVID-19 in the droppings of bats living in their country. This is reported by TASS with reference to Japanese public television.
Experts from the University of Tokyo have revealed that it is 81.5 percent identical to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The experiments used biomaterials from bats collected seven years ago. During clinical trials, it was found that the detected form of the virus is not transmitted to humans.
It is noted that Japanese scientists were the first to discover a virus with such a high percentage of identity to the new coronavirus in local animals. At the same time, in bats living in China, experts have already found viruses that are 95 percent or more identical to SARS-CoV-2.
Earlier it was reported that experts from Rospotrebnadzor detected coronaviruses in bats in Russia. Exactly what types scientists have discovered is still unknown.
