Researchers have discovered a virus that could enter human cells in a similar way to COVID-19. But they caution it's much more poorly adapted to humans.

Researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China said they discovered a new coronavirus in bats that enters cells using the same gateway as the virus that causes Covid-19.

A newly discovered bat coronavirus uses the same cell-surface protein to gain entry into human cells as the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, raising the possibility that it could someday spread to humans,