London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2025

Cambodian scientists find close match for coronavirus in samples from 2010

Cambodian scientists find close match for coronavirus in samples from 2010

Viral sequences in samples taken from horseshoe bats have a 92 per cent similarity to pathogen that causes Covid-19, researchers say.

With a World Health Organization investigation into the origins of the coronavirus which causes the Covid-19 disease under way in China, a laboratory in Cambodia has discovered close relatives of the pathogen in samples that have been stored in a freezer for more than a decade.

Two viruses found in the samples, taken from horseshoe bats in northeastern Cambodia in 2010 and identified in research released on Tuesday, have a 92.6 per cent similarity to SARS-CoV-2 behind the Covid-19 pandemic. That makes them the closest relatives uncovered outside China and adds new information to the investigation into where the pathogen came from.

The closest known relative to the virus that causes Covid-19 is a bat virus found in southwest China’s Yunnan province, which has a 96.2 per cent similarity.


The latest discovery, by researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia in Phnom Penh, comes as the WHO-backed team is working to understand how the coronavirus began spreading in Wuhan, central China, where it was first identified in late 2019.

Little is known about how the outbreak started, but scientists suspect the virus may have originated in bats before passing to humans either directly or via an intermediary animal.

Chinese officials have suggested the virus may have come from overseas. The WHO has said it is too soon to jump to any conclusions.

The hunt for the origin has led a number of labs to back-test stored animal samples for traces of similar viruses in an effort to provide more clues.

The findings from Phnom Penh, which have not been peer reviewed, “suggest that Southeast Asia represents a key area to consider in the ongoing search for the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and in future surveillance for coronaviruses’’, said the researchers, who include scientists from Sorbonne University and Pasteur Institute in France and the University of California, Davis in the US.

They also add new data to a body of evidence showing Southeast Asia and southern China as hotspots for this larger group of coronaviruses.

The Cambodian viruses were picked up in swabs taken from Shamel’s horseshoe bats as part of a project backed by Unesco, in which researchers were comparing species diversity on two sides of the Mekong River in northern Cambodia.

The samples were transported back to the institute, where they were stored at minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit), the paper said.

Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the scientists began running additional tests on stored samples in search of related coronaviruses. Of the 430 samples they looked at, 16 tested positive for coronaviruses, and among those were two nearly identical strains that turned out to be the close SARS-CoV-2 relatives.

In November, Veasna Duong, a virologist at the institute told the scientific publication Nature about early findings which indicated there could be a close relative. The team was still waiting for the genetic sequencing to understand exactly how close the virus might be to the one that caused Covid-19, the journal reported at the time.

Though the genetic results released on Tuesday did not reveal a closer match than the known relatives in China, the researchers said their analysis suggested SARS-CoV-2 related viruses had a much wider geographic distribution than previously understood. The Shamel’s horseshoe bat species carrying the Cambodian viruses is not known to live in China.

This “possibly reflects a lack of sampling in Southeast Asia”, they said, calling for more surveillance in the region, which is home to both a high diversity of bats and wildlife as well as wildlife trade and land-use change – known drivers of emerging infectious diseases.

Members of the WHO team in China have expressed similar opinions on the need for more regional data.

Virologist Marion Koopmans of the Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands said on Wednesday that the Cambodian findings were “adding to our knowledge on SARS-Cov (-2) like viruses in bats in the region”.

“Data from Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar would also be needed,” she said on Twitter, adding that the hunt for the closest relatives of the pandemic virus was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
×