icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
25 Aug, 2020 19:52

As Covid-19 drives the planet batsh*t crazy, Russia to study the feces of its own bat population to look for coronaviruses

As Covid-19 drives the planet batsh*t crazy, Russia to study the feces of its own bat population to look for coronaviruses

With the world in the grip of a pandemic possibly caused by Chinese bats, Russia wants to make sure its own can’t start another. Thus, a new study will check the country's bat population for the presence of coronaviruses.

National health watchdog Roszdravnadzor's Institute of Epidemiology will test nocturnal flying mammals from various regions of the country, including Moscow, Volgograd, and the Black Sea coast, enabling the scientists to determine how common coronaviruses are in different species.

The researchers plan to analyze more than 1,500 individuals by checking fecal samples, using a “high-performance sequencing method to obtain information about the complete genome sequences” of any viruses found.

Also on rt.com Mongolian man dies of BUBONIC PLAGUE amid growing concerns over potential outbreak

Although it is unknown where Covid-19 originated, many believe the source to be Chinese bats. In April, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a Geneva news briefing that the evidence suggests the virus “has an animal origin,” and “most likely has its ecological reservoir in bats.”

Others, such as US President Donald Trump, have accused China of artificially creating the virus in a laboratory.

As of August 25, there have been at least 23,679,320 global cases of Covid-19, with 966,189 confirmed in Russia. The country with the most instances of coronavirus is the US (5,742,308), followed by Brazil (3,622,861) and India (3,167,323).

Also on rt.com Nothing to worry about? China to build Wuhan-style virus lab close to Russian border

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Podcasts
0:00
24:55
0:00
28:50