Portugal registers first two cases of coronavirus - health minister

Portugal registered its first two cases of the new coronavirus on Monday, both in people who had recently returned from abroad, Health Minister Marta Temido told a news conference.

Both men were taken to hospital in Porto and were in a stable condition and in good general health, Temido said. She said one case was discovered in a 60-year-old man who had recently traveled to Italy, the site of Europe's worst outbreak, and another one in a man aged 33, who had returned from Valencia in Spain.

The minister said Portugal would expand tracing of passengers and their contacts to include flights arriving from Italy, in addition to those arriving from China that have been monitored for some time. In another possible case, a Chinese tourist had to be taken off a train during the night after complaining of fever, cough and throat pain, and officials said passengers on the train would be traced and monitored.