New study says virus behind covid-19 has been in bats ‘for decades’

A new study on the evolution of COVID-19 published in Nature on Tuesday by a group of scientists has revealed that the COVID-19 virus behind persisting pandemic has been in bats ‘for decades’.

The group of scientists from around the world who have been tracing the virus’s origins say their findings indicate that “the lineage giving rise to the SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating unnoticed in bats for decades”.

Writing on Twitter, award-winning science author Laurie Garrett said the study has a number of significant implications.

This came after the world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccine trial got under way on Monday in the United States of America with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the US government along with pharmaceutical company Moderna.

Figures provided by the Johns Hopkins University also revealed that nearly 16.5 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the COVID-19, while some 9.6 million patients have recovered, and more than 654,000 have died from the virus.