The country’s prime minister confirmed there have been two positive cases in the country (Picture: EPA)

Italy has confirmed its first cases of the deadly coronavirus, shortly after the outbreak was declared a global health emergency.

Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, revealed that two Chinese tourists have tested positive for the virus.

He has since ordered all air traffic to be blocked between Italy and China.

It comes after more than 6,000 passengers and 1,000 crew members were stuck on an Italian cruise ship north of Rome on Thursday, after a Chinese woman, 54, fell ill.


Medical staff of S. Martino hospital infectious disease department, with protective equipment on the isolation room, Genoa, Italy (Picture: EPA)

Passengers were allowed off the Costa Smeralda after being stuck there for hours (Picture: AFP)

An Asian tourist wears a protective mask, in part due to the pneumonia outbreak alerts, while visiting the monuments in Rome (Picture: EPA)

Coronavirus, conferenza stampa del Presidente @GiuseppeConteIT e del Ministro della salute @robersperanza

🔴 in diretta da Palazzo Chigi https://t.co/XQ4XaGlXV5 — Palazzo_Chigi (@Palazzo_Chigi) January 30, 2020

Officials from the Costa Smeralda ship said the woman and her partner, who had no symptoms, were put into isolation Wednesday.

Passengers were allowed to disembark on Thursday night after tests came back negative, said Italian coast guard Captain Stefano Varone.



Italy is the fourth European country, after France, Finland and Germany, to have confirmed cases.

It comes after the World Health Organisation declared the virus a global health emergency, after the death toll shot up to 170.

Health experts confirmed there are now 98 cases in 18 countries outside China, while there have been eight involving human-to-human transmission in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the US.

Thousands were stuck on the cruise north of Rome (Picture: Rex)

The two people tested on the ship were not found to have the virus (Picture: EPA)

Following the announcement, British medical officers increased the risk level in the UK from low to moderate.

In the UK, 161 people have tested negative for the virus as of Thursday.

Around 150 UK citizens are due to be brought back from a flight leaving the epicentre of the outbreak, the Chinese city of Wuhan, at 7am local time on Friday (11pm Thursday UK time).

Passengers on the evacuation flight, which will have military medics on board, will land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday morning.

They will then be taken to an NHS facility on the Wirral for a quarantine period of 14 days.

It is understood they will be taken to a former student accommodation block in the grounds of Arrowe Park Hospital.

Fifty people – mainly from EU countries – will also be on the evacuation flight which will head to Spain afterwards.