Southern Italy confirms first coronavirus cases as pandemic fears grow

Italian authorities have confirmed on Tuesday morning that a first case of coronavirus has struck southern Italy and Tuscany.

A person in Florence and another in Palermo tested positive for the deadly virus. An Italian woman was on holiday in Palermo and is from Bergamo in the Lombardy region, northern Italy which is currently under lockdown.

The group had arrived in Sicily last week, before the authorities placed 50,000 people under forced quarantine.

On Tuesday Professor Chris Witty, the UK’s chief medical officer has published new advice, anyone who has travelled from northern Italy back to the UK must self-isolate, even if you do feel well.

Travellers who have come back to the UK who have travelled north of Pisa, Rimini and Florence and do show signs of coronavirus must also self-isolate.

The British health secretary, Matt Hancock told Sky News, “I’m pretty worried. We’ve got the plans in place.

“At the moment the containment here is going well, but it’s my job to be worried.

“That’s what you’d expect of a health secretary in the middle of what is a global outbreak.

“There is a good chance that we contain this at this sort of level where the number of cases – although we expect more cases in the UK – the number of cases is relatively low as now.”