pipistrellus bat coronavirus hku5 pipistrellus bat coronavirus hku5 pipistrellus bat coronavirus hku5 (bat-cov hku5) is an enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded rna mammalian group 2 betacoronavirus discovered in japanese pipistrellus in hong kong. this strain of coronavirus is closely related to the newly identified novel mers-cov that is responsible for the 2012 middle east respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus outbreaks in saudi arabia, jordan, united arab emirates, the united kingdom, france, and italy. pipistrellus bat coronavirus hku5 virus classification (unranked): virus realm: riboviria kingdom: orthornavirae phylum: pisuviricota class: pisoniviricetes order: nidovirales family: coronaviridae genus: betacoronavirus subgenus: merbecovirus species: pipistrellus bat coronavirus hku5 transmission the exact means of transmission to humans is not yet well known. however, it has been demonstrated that betacov's including hku5 have the propensity to recombine and cause interspecies transmission. however, this is not seen in group c betacov's to which mers-cov is most closely related.