Longitudinal Survey of Coronavirus Circulation and Diversity in Insectivorous Bat Colonies in Zimbabwe.

Background: Studies have linked bats to outbreaks of viral diseases in human populations such as SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV and the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Methods: We carried out a longitudinal survey from August 2020 to July 2021 at two sites in Zimbabwe with bat-human interactions: Magweto cave and Chirundu farm. A total of 1732 and 1866 individual bat fecal samples were collected, respectively.