SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

The first confirmed cases of coronavirus are being reported in the Caribbean, after authorities in the Dominican Republic on Sunday confirmed that an Italian national was checked into a Santo Domingo hospital over the weekend.

In addition, the Regional Health Agency of Guadeloupe confirmed three cases after a resident of the French overseas territory of St. Barthélemy and his parents, currently in isolation in a hospital in St. Martin, tested positive for COVID-19. Caribbean health ministers and prime ministers, meeting Sunday to discuss how to confront the virus, were informed of the cases.

The arrival of the coronavirus in the Caribbean opens up a new front in the fight to contain the virus. This is especially true in the case of the Dominican Republic, which has a population of 11 million and shares a porous border with Haiti. A popular tourist destination, the Dominican Republic has frequent sea and air connections to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Eastern seaboard.

Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.