Italy coronavirus outbreak spreads south as cases spike

Italy's new coronavirus spre south on Tuesday to Tuscany and Sicily, as civil protection ncy reported a surge in number of infected people and Rome convened emergency talks.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has blamed poor manment in a hospital in country's rth for outbreak, which has caused seven deaths in Italy so far and infected largest number of people in Europe.

Tuscany reported its first two cases, including one in tourist destination of Florence, while Sicily marked one: a tourist from worst-hit Lombardy region, where 212 people have tested positive.

female tourist in Sicily, who h been staying in a hotel in Palermo, tested positive on first swab but was awaiting definitive result from Italy's institute of infectious diseases, civil protection ncy chief Angelo Borrelli said.

Health ministers from neighbouring countries were to meet in Rome as number of confirmed infections jumped to 283, with over 50 new cases reported since Monday.

EU's health commissioner and or international health officials were also expected in Italian capital Tuesday.

Hundreds of people were confined to ir rooms at a Tenerife hotel after an Italian tourist was hospitalised with a suspected case of coronavirus, health officials in Canary Islands said.

While neighbouring country has closed its borders with Italy, several governments have anunced ditional measures for travellers arriving from Italy, in particular from two rrn regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

y range from medical screening to recommendations to self-isolate.

Several upcoming matches in Italian Serie A and Europa League will be played behind closed doors to combat spre of disease.

Production of latest "Mission: Impossible" film starring Tom Cruise in Venice has been stopped following outbreak.

main centre of infection in Italy has been town of Codog, a town of some 15,000 people around 60 kilometres (35 miles) to south of Milan.

Codog and several ors in rrn Italy have been put under isolation in an attempt to stem spre of virus.

38-year-old man dubbed "Patient One" by Italian media was mitted to hospital last Wednesday in Codog, and it is thought a large number of cases in worst-hit region of Lombardy can be traced back to him.

His heavily pregnant wife, several doctors, staff and patients at hospital are thought to have caught virus from him.

As well as towns placed under quarantine, furr wide-ranging measures have affected tens of millions of inhabitants in rth of Italy, with schools closed and cultural and sporting events cancelled.

Elsewhere in country officials have also been recommending precautionary measures.

In Calabria in south, bishops have asked ir worshippers t to make sign of peace during mass, media reported.

All seven of those who have died so far in Italy were eir elderly or h pre-existing medical conditions.