Italy reports second death from coronavirus

A second patient infected with the new coronavirus has died in Italy, media reported on Saturday (February 22), citing healthcare sources. The outbreak spreads in the north of the country, with 30 cases reported so far.

According to Reuters, the victim was a female resident in Milan’s Lombardy region. Her reported death comes hours after a 78-year-old man died overnight near Padua, in the nearby Veneto region.

Lombardy, Italy’s financial and industrial heart, is the most stricken region with 27 cases.

Before Friday, Italy had reported just three cases of the virus, which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.