The novel coronavirus outbreak in 2020 is not SARS, and the two viruses are not genetically identical. However, both novel coronaviruses and SARS belong to the beta genus of coronaviruses and are homologous.
The clinical manifestations of patients infected with novel coronavirus are different from those of SARS patients. Patients with SARS may present with high fever and pneumonia and subsequently have the ability to infect others, whereas patients with novel coronaviruses have no specific symptoms and can infect others even during the incubation period.