CODOGNO, Italy (AP) — Italian authorities say the number of people infected with the new virus from China has more than quadrupled in a day due to an emerging cluster of cases in the country's north.
Many of the new cases represented the first infections in Italy acquired through secondary contagion and brought the country's total to 17.
The first to fall ill in northern Italy met with someone who had returned from China in January without symptoms.
The 38-year-old Italian man is in critical condition.
The man's wife and a friend also tested positive for the virus.
Three patients at the hospital where he went a few days ago and five nurses and doctors acquired the virus as well.