WHO officially named the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in February 2020 .
From a taxonomic perspective , SARS-CoV-2 is classified as a strain of the species severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus ( SARSr-CoV ) .Especially before WHO officially named it in February 2020 , people have sometimes called the strain `` Wuhan virus '' or `` Wuhan coronavirus '' after the city where scientists first discovered it .
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2