A dangerous new coronavirus discovered in China could spark the next pandemic, scientists warn.

American researchers say the new HKU5-CoV-2 virus is just one 'small' mutation away from being able to infect and cause outbreaks in humans.

The discovery is causing alarm because the pathogen is closely related to MERS, a highly lethal virus that kills up to a third of those it infects.

Adding to the controversy is the fact HKU5 was first documented in bats by researchers from the Chinese lab where Covid is feared to have leaked from.

For the latest study, a team from Washington State University studied how the new pathogen interacts with human cells in lab experiments.

Professor Michael Letko, a virologist at Washington State who co-led the study, said: 'HKU5 viruses in particular really hadn't been looked at much, but our study shows how these viruses infect cells.

'What we also found is HKU5 viruses may be only a small step away from being able to spill over into humans.'

The findings reveal that a small change in the virus's spike protein could enable it to bind to human ACE2 cells, which are found in people's throats, mouths and noses.

Researchers collected the HKU5-CoV-2 strain from a small subset of hundreds of bats swabbed across southern and eastern regions of China.

It is currently only spreading in bats - but experts fear unregulated wildlife trade in China raises risk of spillover events.