An elderly man in the northern Italian city of Padua has died after being infected with coronavirus, becoming the first Italian victim of the disease, Health Minister Roberto Speranza has said.

Key points: Around 100 people are being tested for the virus in Codogno, where the sick man lives

Around 100 people are being tested for the virus in Codogno, where the sick man lives Italian media said 60 people had been placed in quarantine as a precaution

Italian media said 60 people had been placed in quarantine as a precaution Prior to Friday's announcement, just three people had been confirmed in Italy to have the virus

Local media said the man was 78 years old and was hospitalised two weeks ago.

Health authorities announced 15 new cases of the virus in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy and two in the neighbouring region of Veneto where Padua is located — the first known cases of local transmission in the country.

None of those infected were believed to have travelled to China, where the new illness first emerged late last year, and local authorities in Italy scrambled to contain the outbreak.

Giulio Gallera, a member of the Lombardy regional government, said the first infected Italian, a 38-year-old man, had dinner in early February with a friend who had just come back from China.

Soon after, two more people tested positive for the virus — the initial patient's pregnant wife, and another man he had come into contact with, the Ansa news agency reported.

Around 100 people are being tested for the virus in the northern city of Codogno, where the sick man comes from.

Italian media said 60 people had been placed in quarantine as a precaution.

Prior to the announcement, Italy had reported just three cases of the virus.

Two Chinese tourists who came from Wuhan tested positive in Rome in late January, and an Italian who returned from the Chinese city with a special flight repatriating some 56 nationals was hospitalised a week later.

The new virus emerged in China in December. Since then, more than 76,780 people have been infected globally, in as many as 27 countries, and 2,248 people have died, most in Hubei province and its capital Wuhan.

Two more deaths reported in Iran

Iran has had 18 confirmed cases of coronavirus. ( AP: Vahid Salemi )

Iranian health authorities on Friday reported two more deaths from the new virus, raising the national total to four. The fatalities were from among 13 new confirmed cases of the virus in Iran.

The spokesman of the health ministry, Kianoush Jahanpour, said the newly detected cases are all linked with city of Qom where the first two elderly patients died on Wednesday.

So far, 18 cases have been confirmed in Iran, including the four who died.

Mr Jahanpour said the new cases were either from Qom or had visited the city recently.

He said four of them have been hospitalised in the capital, Tehran, and two in northern province of Gilan.

Minoo Mohraz, an Iranian health ministry official, said the virus "possibly came from Chinese workers who work in Qom and travelled to China". She did not elaborate.

A Chinese company has been building a solar power plant in Qom.

Concerns over the spread of the virus prompted authorities in Iran this week to close all schools and Shiite seminaries in Qom, about 130 kilometres south of Tehran.

Earlier news reports said Iran had recently evacuated 60 Iranian students from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the epidemic. The students were quarantined upon their return to Iran and were discharged after 14 days without any health problems.

Lebanon, Israel confirm first cases

There have been few virus cases in the Middle East so far. Nine cases have been confirmed in the United Arab Emirates, which is a popular tourist destination, and one case in Egypt.

Of the nine in the UAE, seven are Chinese nationals, one is a Filipino and another an Indian national.

Lebanon confirmed its first coronavirus case on Friday and said it was monitoring two other potential cases after a 45-year-old woman arriving from Iran on Thursday tested positive, Health Minister Hamad Hassan said.

Addressing a news conference, Mr Hassan said the patient was taken directly to isolation from a plane arriving from the Iranian city of Qom on Thursday after exhibiting symptoms of the virus.

The patient is being quarantined at Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut and the two other individuals from the Qom flight suspected of carrying the virus would be transferred to the hospital for quarantine as well, Mr Hassan said.

The Israeli cruise ship passengers, who had all initially tested negative, are being kept in quarantine. ( AP: Heidi Levine/Pool )

Also Friday, one of 11 Israelis who were flown home after being quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan has tested positive for the virus, the first case to be reported inside Israel, the Health Ministry said.

The Israeli cruise ship passengers, who had all initially tested negative, arrived on a charter plane overnight.

They were met by medics in protection suits and immediately taken to the Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv, where they will be kept in quarantine.

Another four Israelis were hospitalized in Japan after testing positive for the virus.

Israel has cancelled all flights to and from China, and is requiring Israelis returning from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore or Thailand to be quarantined at home for two weeks.

ABC/wires