The Vatican says a patient in its health services has tested positive for coronavirus, the first in the tiny city-state surrounded by Rome.

A Vatican source said the patient had participated in an international conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Life last week in a packed theatre several blocks from the Vatican.

Participants at the three-day conference on Artificial Intelligence included top executives of US tech giants Microsoft and IBM.

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The academy issued a separate statement saying it was informing all other participants of the development by email but did not say it was the same person whose case was announced earlier by Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

The discovery worsened the prospects of the virus having already spread further in the capital of Italy, since most Vatican employees live in Rome and those who live in the Vatican frequently enter and leave the city-state.

Mr Bruni said the case was diagnosed on Thursday and that services in its clinics had been suspended to sanitise the areas.

Most Vatican employees who use its health services live in Italy on the other side of the border with the 108-acre city-state.

Mr Bruni gave no details on whether the person who tested positive was such an employee or among the relatively few clergies or guards who live inside its walls.