Hospital scenes as new Italy virus cases announced

In Italy, three more people tested positive for the virus - the first cases of contagion among Italians who hadn't been to China, authorities said.

The infections brought to six the number people with the virus in Italy.

The health ministry ordered anyone who had been in direct contact with the three new patients to be quarantined for 14 days, and called for residents of the two Lombardy towns where they lived to stay home.

The first of the three to test positive for the virus was a 38-year-old Italian who had several meetings with someone who had recently been in China, said the Lombardy welfare chief, Giulio Gallera.

Subsequently, his wife tested positive as did another person who came into contact with the man doing sports.

The 38-year-old had first gone to the hospital Feb. 18 with flu-like symptoms but was sent home, only to see his conditions worsen.

Now he is in intensive care at the hospital in Codogno, and some 150 people who he contacted, including medical personnel, have been tested, Gallera said.

The person who he had met with had been in China and returned Jan. 21.

That person is also in isolation but is not showing any symptoms of the virus, Gallera said.

Rome's infectious disease hospital is currently caring for three other people who were infected, including a Chinese couple from hard-hit Wuhan and an Italian.