Several European countries announce their 1st coronavirus cases

Several European countries have announced their first coronavirus cases, all reported to be linked to the growing outbreak in Italy.

Austria, Croatia, Greece and Switzerland said the cases involved people who had been to Italy, as did Algeria in Africa.

BBC News reports the first positive virus test has been recorded in Latin America - a Brazilian resident just returned from Italy.

Italy has in recent days become Europe's worst-affected country.

Authorities have confirmed more than 300 cases and 12 deaths there.

The country has also seen four children infected. In the UK, schoolchildren returning from holidays in northern Italy have been sent home with the government issuing new guidance to travellers.

Latest around Europe.

In Austria, a young Italian couple who live in Innsbruck in the Tyrol was confirmed to have the virus.

The couple's home was sealed off and a hotel in which one of the pair work was put in lockdown.

Officials on Wednesday said the lockdown had been lifted, while nine people had been put in quarantine "as a precaution" following medical tests

Switzerland said a man in his seventies living in Ticino, bordering Italy, had been infected in Milan on 15 February and was now in isolation

A man in Croatia who recently returned from Italy became the first confirmed patient in the Balkans

On the Spanish island of Tenerife, hundreds of guests were locked down in a hotel after an Italian doctor and his wife tested positive for the virus

Spain reported its first case on the mainland, involving a woman in Barcelona who had been to northern Italy

Greece confirmed its first case, in a 38-year-old woman who had returned from a trip to northern Italy, according to reports

France confirmed the first death of a French national from the virus.

The 60-year-old French man was the second fatality in the country after an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died there earlier this month

France and Germany reported new cases involving people who had recently been to northern Italy.

[Source:BBC]