Tirana: Albania reported its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, a man who returned from Italy late last month and his father, the health ministry said.

"A 54-year-old man and his 28-year-old son who returned by car from Florence tested positive for COVID-19," a ministry statement said.

The two are hospitalised in the capital Tirana and their health condition is stable, it said.

Albania is the fifth western Balkans country where the virus has spread after Croatia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Serbia where 19 people have been infected.

More than half are in Croatia.

Roughly 110,00 people have been infected worldwide and nearly 3,800 have died from the virus, the vast majority in China where it first emerged late last year.

Italy is now the second-worst affected country in the world with more than 7,300 infected people and 366 deaths.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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