A new virus called SARS-CoV-2 caused the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-2020, sparking interest in coronaviruses. Coronaviruses were first discovered in the 1900s, with the first human one found in 1965. In the early 2000s, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV showed that some coronaviruses can be dangerous to humans. Since then, many new coronaviruses have been found, leading to changes in how they are classified. The current classification of coronaviruses was updated in early 2020 to reflect these discoveries.