(ANSA) - Rome, February 26 - Civil Protection Chief Angelo Borrelli said Wednesday that the number of people with the coronavirus to have died in Italy has climbed to 12 while 400 have contracted the deadly virus. Borrelli, who is also extraordinary commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, said the 12th case died in hospital in Piacenza, making him the fist victim in Emilia-Romagna.

He said he was a 70-year-old man originally from Lombardy who had "important pre-existing" conditions.

There are 258 cases in Lombardy, 87 in Veneto, 47 in Emilia Romagna, 11 in Liguria, three in Piedmont, Lazio and Sicily, two in Tuscany and one in Bolzano.

Six children have tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy, sources said on Wednesday.

Most of the cases stem from the 'hotspots' in the province of Lodi that are in lockdown due to the outbreak in northern Italy.

The youngest is a four-year-old girl from Castiglione d'Adda, a town in the area at the center of the outbreak, who is in hospital in Pavia. A 15-year-old boy is in hospital at Seriate, near Bergamo. Two 10-year-olds, one from Soresina, near Cremona, and another from San Rocco al Porto, in the province of Lodi, have been allowed to return home. A 17-year-old tested positive several days ago and one of his class mates has too.