A new flu strain has been discovered in China which scientists are warning could cause the next viral pandemic.
Genetically similar to Swine Flu, G4 EA H1N1 is carried by pigs, but it can infect humans too, according to new research published in a journal article.
Now researchers have urged "urgent" monitoring of the animals and people who came into contact with the new influenza strain, reports the Mirror.
Like Covid-19, G4 EA H1N1, causes respiratory illnesses, thriving in cells that grow in the human airway.
As global Covid-19 deaths pass 500,000, millions of cases have been diagnosed since reportedly emerged in China in December 2019.
Animal-borne Covid-19 is believed to have originated at a 'wet market' selling wildlife for consumption in Wuhan.
The new report about G4 EA H1N1 in the US journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says it had "all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus."
Evidence of infection with the new influenza virus has been traced to people who worked in abattoirs and the swine farming industry in China, according to researchers.
The virus, termed as a G4 genotype, has become predominant in swine populations since 2016.
Following the 2009 Swine Flu outbreak, that virus - A/H1N1pdm09 - is now covered by the annual flu vaccine.
Vaccines against common seasonal flu do not appear to protect people from the new G4 virus, the study warned.
Prof Kin-Chow Chang, who works at Nottingham University in the UK, told the BBC : "Right now we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses."
While the new G4 virus doesn't form an immediate problem, Prof Chang added: "We should not ignore it".
Prof James Wood , head of the Cambridge University Veterinary Medicine department, said the new G4 virus showed pathogens which could be traced to farmed animals and could trigger future pandemics as they have more human contact than wild animals.
