Local researchers attempted to allay public fears by saying the coronavirus found in a horseshoe bat population in Chachoengsao last year is not a strain that is transmissible to humans, after several reports suggested that the Covid-19 pandemic may have originated in Thailand.
“They are in the same family [of coronaviruses], but they do not cause Covid-19. As of now, there is no evidence to show that the strain we found in bats [in Chachoengsao] can be transmitted to humans,” said Supaporn Wacharapluesadee, a researcher with the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases-Health Science Centre.
“However, we do need to carefully monitor its development because many emerging infectious diseases began in bat…
