Italy's coronavirus outbreak spread south on Tuesday to Tuscany and Sicily, as the civil protection agency reported a surge in the number of infected people and the death toll rose to 10. Officials reported 322 confirmed cases of the virus, 100 more than a day earlier. In a worrying development, they said some of the new cases showed up in parts of Italy well outside the country's two hard-hit northern regions.

Tuscany reported its first two cases, including one in the tourist destination of Florence, while Sicily recorded three: all of them tourists from the worst-hit Lombardy region, where more than 200 people have tested positive.

The Liguria region, known as the Italian Riviera, also reported its first case but cautioned that the definitive result for the 70-year old still needed to come from Italy's infectious diseases institute.

Officials also reported three new fatalities in Lombardy, bringing the total to 10. All three were elderly patients.

News of the spike in cases came as a team from the World Health Organization in Rome said Italy had taken appropriate measures to curb the virus’s spread, with the focus on halting further person-to-person transmission.

"The measures taken by the Italian government or the regional governments have been pretty strong and most likely should help in containing this virus as good as possible," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.

Lindmeier noted that based on current data, in the majority of cases – four out of every five – people experience mild or no symptoms.

Meeting for emergency talks in Rome, health ministers from Italy and six neighboring countries decided not to close their borders over the outbreak, saying it would be a disproportionate and ineffective measure.