The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, can be transmitted from bats to humans because of stray dogs, said scientists from the University of Ottawa in Canada.
Professor Xuhua Xia and his colleagues studied 1252 full-sized genomes of coronaviruses, Molecular Biology and Evolution reported.
including the ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 and his immediate relative, bat coronavirus BatCoV RaTG13, which is 96% identical in DNA to SARS-CoV-2.
According to him, the virus was transmitted from bats to dogs and could get from a dog to a person.
However, Professor James Wood, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and researcher in infection dynamics at the University of Cambridge, is not convinced, News Sport Leader reported.
Professor Wood said: “I find it difficult to understand how the author has been able to conclude anything from this study, or to hypothesise much, let alone that the virus causing COVID-19 may have evolved through dogs.
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