ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday said there were two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy, the first two in the country since the emergency exploded.

Conte said Italy had closed air traffic to and from China.

“We have two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy,” the prime minister told a news conference, adding two Chinese tourist from China had contracted the virus.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus epidemic in China now constitutes a global public health emergency.