In a study conducted by researchers at the Chinese University "Sun Yat-sen", Yunnan Institute of endemic disease control, the Australian University of Sydney.

A Corona-like virus has been detected in bats in southern China, scientists said, explaining that it is "one of 5 viruses that are likely to be transmitted to humans from bats".

The virus, known as "BtSY2", is closely related to the" SARS-CoV-2 " virus, the causative agent of covid.

Scientists said it was "one of 5 worrisome viruses" found in bats across China's Yunnan province, which are potentially pathogenic to humans or livestock.

"We have identified 5 viral species that are potentially pathogenic to humans or livestock, including a new SARS-like coronavirus, closely related to both SARS-CoV-2 and 50 SARS-CoV,"the team said in the research paper.

Scientists collected samples from 149 bats representing 15 species in 6 provinces or cities, belonging to Yunnan. And RNA (contained in living cells) was extracted and sequenced individually for each individual bat.

Worryingly, scientists have noticed a high prevalence of multiple viruses in a single bat, simultaneously.

This could lead to " existing viruses exchanging parts of their genetic code - a process known as recombination - to form new pathogens," according to University of Nottingham virologist Jonathan Ball.

Paul, who was not involved in the research, explained: "the main message that can be taken (from this study), is that individual bats can harbor a large number of different viruses, and sometimes host them at the same time," reports the British newspaper "Daily Mail".

"Such co-infection, especially with related viruses such as coronavirus, gives the virus an opportunity to swap important pieces of genetic information, which naturally leads to the emergence of new variants,"he continued.