Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport

A Spanish sports journalist who travelled to northern Italy to cover Valencia’s Champions League clash with Atalanta has been confirmed to have the coronavirus.

The unnamed man, 44, travelled along with 2,400 Valencia fans to Milan in the Lombardy region in northern Italy to watch their side’s 4-1 loss to Atalanta on 19th February in the San Siro.

Local media report the sports journalist, who has not been identified, has been confirmed to have the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, earlier today (Thursday).

The news comes after a reported four fans who travelled to the Mediterranean country to watch the match were being evaluated after they presented symptoms of COVID-19.

The 31-year-old is the first confirmed case among the supporters and the second in the autonomous community of Valencia located on the Mediterranean coast of eastern Spain.

The Spanish man is hospitalised at the Clinic University Hospital Valencia from where he reportedly sent messages to his family and friends telling them he only had mild symptoms and that he was fine.

There are now a reported 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Spain with cases also coming from the Spanish capital Madrid, Barcelona and the island of Tenerife.

Italy has been one of the most-affected countries with a reported 447 cases of the virus and 12 deaths.

There have been a reported worldwide 82,315 cases which have lead to 2,805 deaths.

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