French health minister confirms two cases of virus

France on Friday announced two confirmed cases of the deadly new virus from China, the first reported in Europe, and the country's health minister said new cases could follow.

Health Minister Agnès Buzyn said the two patients had been hospitalised, in isolation, one in Paris, the other in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

In part because of Europe's open borders, the minister said she expects more cases.

One of people sickened, a 48-year-old man, passed through Wuhan, the epicentre in China for the virus, before traveling to France on Wednesday, the minister said.

That person is hospitalised in Bordeaux.

The second patient is hospitalised in a large city hospital in Paris.

Buzyn said they had also travelled to China but she had little other information about the case, which was confirmed shortly before she spoke to the media.

The Bordeaux patient was in contact with about 10 people before he was taken into care, the minister said and French authorities were seeking to contact them.

Buzyn urged people who suspect they may have contracted the virus to call emergency services and to stay at home to avoid spreading the pathogen.

The number of confirmed cases around the world has climbed sharply to more than 850, the bulk of them in China.

There have been at least 25 deaths, all of them in China.

The vast majority of cases have been in and around Wuhan or involved people who visited the city or had personal connections to those infected.