Coronavirus deaths in Netherlands rises to three - health authorities

Two more people infected with the coronavirus in the Netherlands have died, taking the total number of fatalities to three, Dutch health officials said on Sunday.

The National Institute for Public Health said the deceased were two men, aged 82 and 86, who had been in hospital and who already had medical problems before they were infected with the coronavirus. The Netherlands registered its first fatal case, a 86-year old man who died in a hospital in Rotterdam, on Friday.

The total number of infections in the Netherlands increased to 265 on Sunday, from 188 a day earlier. The health authorities said 131 of these patients had recently been to Italy, the country at the heart of Europe's largest coronavirus outbreak.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry on Sunday said people should cancel all trips to the regions in northern Italy which were virtually locked off by the Italian government on Sunday. It also advised Dutch people traveling in these regions to leave.