Close relatives of the coronavirus may have been in bats for decades
Similar viruses with the potential to infect humans could be circulating in the mammals

Coronaviruses closely related to the one that causes COVID-19 may have been around for longer than anyone realized. SARS-CoV-2’s closest known relative is a virus isolated from an intermediate horseshoe bat (one shown) in Yunnan Province in China in 2013.
B.G Thomson/Science Source