Six cases of coronavirus in Italy's Lombardy region - official

Six Italians have tested positive for the coronavirus in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, a local official said on Friday in the first known cases of local transmission in Italy of the potentially deadly illness.

"We have got six cases of coronavirus," Lombardy councillor Giulio Gallera told a news conference, adding that hundreds of people who had been in contact with the patients were now being tested to see if they had been infected.

The first person confirmed to have contracted the virus was believed to have fallen ill after meeting a friend who had recently returned from China. Residents of the northern towns of Codogno and Castiglione d'Adda were being urged to stay at home as medical tests continued.