Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some coronaviruses cause cold-like illnesses in people, while others cause illness in certain types of animals, such as cattle, camels, and bats.
Some coronaviruses, such as canine and feline coronaviruses, only infect animals and do not infect humans. Some coronaviruses that infect animals have become able to infect humans and then spread between people, but this is rare.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are examples of diseases caused by coronaviruses that originated in animals and spread to people.
This is what is suspected to have happened with the virus that caused the current outbreak of COVID-19. However, we do not know the exact source