Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to sweep the world, causing infection of millions and death of hundreds of thousands. The respiratory disease that it caused, COVID-19 (stands for coronavirus disease in 2019), has similar clinical symptoms with other two CoV diseases, severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome (SARS and MERS), of which causative viruses are SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, respectively. These three CoVs resulting diseases also share many clinical symptoms with other respiratory diseases caused by influenza A viruses (IAVs). Since both CoVs and IAVs are general pathogens responsible for seasonal cold, in the next few months, during the changing of seasons, clinicians and public heath may have to distinguish COVID-19 pneumonia from other kinds of viral pneumonia. This is a discussion and comparison of the virus structures, transmission characteristics, clinical symptoms, diagnosis, pathological changes, treatment and prevention of the two kinds of viruses, CoVs and IAVs. It hopes to provide information for practitioners in the medical field during the epidemic season.

严重的急性呼吸综合症冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）继续席卷全球，造成数百万的感染和数十万人的死亡。它引起的呼吸道疾病COVID-19（2019年为冠状病毒疾病）与其他两种CoV疾病具有相似的临床症状，分别是严重的急性呼吸综合症和中东呼吸综合症（SARS和MERS），其中致病性病毒为SARS -CoV和MERS-CoV。这三种由CoV引起的疾病也与其他由甲型流感病毒（IAV）引起的呼吸道疾病共享许多临床症状。由于CoV和IAV都是造成季节性感冒的一般病原体，因此在接下来的几个月中，在季节变化期间，临床医生和公共卫生人员可能必须将COVID-19肺炎与其他类型的病毒性肺炎区分开。这是对两种病毒CoV和IAV的病毒结构，传播特征，临床症状，诊断，病理变化，治疗和预防的讨论和比较。它希望在流行季节为医学领域的从业者提供信息。