NeoCov coronavirus found in bats may pose threat to humans in future, scientists caution

A type of coronavirus, NeoCov, that spreads among bats in South Africa may pose a threat to humans in the future if it mutates further, according to a study by Chinese researchers.

The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study recently posted on the preprint repository BioRxiv shows that NeoCov is closely related to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), a viral disease first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.