Apparently its genomic sequence is 75-80% identical as well. Which would make sense, as you say, since they're both a part of the same family of viruses.
Also, for everyone that's really scared by this, to put things in perspective, this virus currently has a fatality rate of just less than .03%. That's about on par with swine flu. Seasonal influenza, 'The Flu', has a fatality rate of 0.1% (over 3x higher than this coronavirus).
Everything's gonna be fine.
Last edited by Ele; Jan 27, 2020 at 08:24 PM.