Italy confirms 283 cases of coronavirus

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy has risen to 283, the country's Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Of the total cases, the highest number in Europe, seven people died while one recovered, the ministry website said.

According to the country's ANSA news agency, all those who passed away were "over 60 years of age."

Giving a breakdown of the infected patients, the health department said some 109 are hospitalized, 29 are in intensive care, and 137 of them are in home quarantine.

The worst-affected region is Lombardy, where six people have died and 212 cases confirmed of the virus, which surfaced last December and has so far claimed over 2,600 lives worldwide.

Meanwhile, the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off northwestern Africa, isolated nearly 1,000 tourists after an Italian man staying at a hotel tested positive for the virus, daily El Pais reported.

The Balkan nation of Croatia has also reported its first case of the virus: a patient who arrived from Milan.

According to the country's prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic, the patient was in the Italian city on Feb. 19-21, and "shows milder signs of the disease."

"We will organize a quarantine for all people who have been in direct contact with the patient," he said.

Landlocked Austria, which borders Italy to the south, also confirmed two cases of the virus.

Gunther Platter, governor of the state of Tyrol in the Alps, said two Italian citizens in the region had contracted the disease. Their condition is not life-threatening, though, he added.

Landlocked Switzerland, also bordering, Austria, confirmed its first case of coronavirus, the Federal Office of Public Health announced, pledging details at a press conference later Tuesday.

The epidemic has spread to more than 25 other countries, with Iran and South Korea the hardest hit.