UPDATE 2 -Austria confirms first coronavirus cases, near border with Italy

Austria reported its first two coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the outbreak apparently spread from neighboring Italy, Europe's worst-hit country where hundreds have been infected.

The two patients are Italians who live in the border province of Tyrol and recently travelled to Lombardy, one of the two regions at the epicenter of the Italian outbreak, Tyrol's Governor Guenther Platter was quoted as saying by state broadcaster ORF and newspaper Der Standard. Tyrol's public health authority said two coronavirus tests had been performed on each of the patients and come back positive, adding that their identities and movements were still being verified.

Austria has had more than 200 suspected cases so far but all had tested negative. Italy has become a front line in the global outbreak of the virus, with 280 cases and seven deaths, most in Lombardy and neighboring Veneto. The number of cases there has ballooned from just three on Friday, and authorities have rushed to seal off the worst affected towns.

But the virus has continued to spread and authorities reported infection in Sicily, the first case south of Rome, on Tuesday. ORF said Austria's two first cases were 24-year-olds who reported themselves to the authorities. They had a slight fever and were under isolation in a hospital in Innsbruck, Tyrol's capital, ORF said.

Hospital authorities are due to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT). The new coronavirus has killed more than 2,600 people, most in China, and spread to some 29 other countries, according to a Reuters tally. The number of confirmed cases globally has risen above 80,000.