In 2003, there was a viral respiratory illness which began in Guangdong Province in southern China and spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. It was caused by a coronavirus called SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Since 2004, there has not been any cases of SARS-CoV reported anywhere in the world.
SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are not the cause of the current (2019-2020) coronavirus disease outbreak (COVID-19); SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses share many common respiratory illness characteristics, but still have several distinct differences, such that influenza viruses are from a different family of viruses than coronaviruses.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was first identified in Wuhan, China in November 2019 before spreading internationally.
The taxonomy of SARS-CoV-2 is as follows:
Family: Coronaviridae
Genus: Betacoronavirus
Species: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-related coronavirus