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		</div><p>Pangolins should be considered as possible hosts of coronavirus, scientists have said.</p>
<p>Researchers in Hong Kong and China claim to have found viruses in the scaly mammals which are closely related to the one responsible for the Covid-19 outbreak.</p>
<p>The team analysed samples taken from more than 30 Malayan pangolins seized during anti-smuggling operations between August 2017 and January 2019.</p>
<p>They detected two groups of coronaviruses related to the new virus behind the human pandemic, called Sars-CoV-2, in some of the animals smuggled into China.</p>
<p>But the researchers said the role of pangolins as the intermediate host of the disease remains to be confirmed.</p>
<p>However, in a paper published in the journal Nature, they said the findings suggest handling pangolins “requires considerable caution” and that the sale of these animals in wet markets “should be strictly prohibited”.</p>
<p>They added further surveillance is needed to understand the role of the animals in the emergence of coronaviruses.</p>
<p>Pangolins, which are classified as threatened with extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), are said to be the most widely trafficked mammals in the world.</p>
<p>The animals, which are native to Asia, are used as both a food source and their scales are utilised in traditional Chinese medicine.</p>
<p>Bats are thought to be the original source of Sars-CoV-2, with another species being an intermediate host before zoonotic (animal to human) transmission.</p>
<p>Outside of bats, pangolins are the only mammals reported to date that have been found to be infected with a coronavirus related to Sars-Cov-2.</p>
<p>The researchers said their findings highlight “a potentially important role” for the animals in the ecology of coronaviruses.</p>
<p>The researchers wrote in their paper: <em>“The discovery of multiple lineages of pangolin coronavirus and their similarity to Sars-CoV-2 suggests that pangolins should be considered as possible hosts in the emergence of novel coronaviruses and should be removed from wet markets to prevent zoonotic transmission.”</em></p>
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