A Chinese couple who tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy went on a tour of the country visiting Milan, Verona, Parma and Rome before they were quarantined.

The woman, 65, and her husband, 66, are both from Wuhan and landed in Milan on January 23.

They were taken to the Spallanzani hospital from their hotel in Rome after they became feverish. They are now stable.

A Chinese couple who tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy went on a tour of the country visiting Milan, Verona, Parma and Rome before they were quarantined. Pictured: The Palatino hotel where the tourists were staying

The other 18 members of their tour group were found in Cassino by police and were taken to the same hospital.

They remain there to be be monitored by medics, The Times reports.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pledged €5 million to help stop the coronavirus spreading.

He also suspended air travel between Italy and China, added that he would be arranging a meeting with the Council of Ministers today to discuss 'further measures'.

He told CNN: 'We have already prepared all the precautionary measures to isolate these two cases.

The latest cases come after the 7,000 passengers who were kept in lockdown onboard the Costa Smeralda were allowed to leave the boat

'There is no reason to create social alarm or panic.'

The latest cases come after the 7,000 passengers who were kept in lockdown onboard a cruise ship in the Italian city of Civitavecchia were allowed to leave the boat after receiving confirmation that two people onboard did not have the coronavirus.

The people travelling inside the Costa Smeralda ship had been kept on the ship since Thursday morning after a Chinese woman, 54, from Macau, who boarded the ship on January 25, came down with 'mild flu-like symptoms' the previous night.

The woman, who was placed in an isolation unit on the ship with her partner, tested negative for the virus, Italy's health ministry later confirmed.

Costa Smeralda, which is owned by the company Costa Crociere, offered to pay for food and hotels for some 1,140 people who had been due to disembark at the Civitavecchia port near Rome on Thursday.

The cases in Italy come as the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an international public health emergency over the outbreak.

Pictured: A bus leaves the harbour where the Costa Smeralda cruise ship was docked in Civitavecchia

The Spallanzani hospital where the two Chinese tourists who tested positive are being kept in isolation

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has suspended air travel between Italy and China

Following a meeting with an emergency committee in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters: 'The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries.

'Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, and which are ill-prepared to deal with it.'

The coronavirus, which has infected nearly 10,000 people and killed 213, is known to spread easily through coughs and sneezes and close contact, and people may be contagious even if they feel well.