A study conducted by the Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China detected a strain of coronavirus named HKU5-CoV lineage 2 in bats.

It belongs to the same group as the MERS-related coronavirus species of virus responsible for the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak.

The new virus detected was found to bind with human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors with a HKU5-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) and human ACE2 complex visualised by electron microscopy.

This was a better adaptation as expressed by lineage 1 of the HKU5-CoV virus.

Though the potential human spillover potential needs to be examined, the study underlines a strong mechanism for human infections and underlines the potential zoonotic risk for the organism.