Researchers at France's Pasteur Institute and the University of Laos looked for viruses similar to the one that causes Covid-19 among hundreds of horseshoe bats.

They found three with closely matched receptor binding domains - the part of the coronavirus' spike protein used to bind to human ACE-2, the enzyme it targets to cause an infection.

The finding, reported in a paper released on Friday (Sept 17) that is under consideration for publication by Nature journal, shows that viruses closely related to Sars-CoV-2 exist in nature, including in several Rhinolophus, or horseshoe bat, species.

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