Albania reported its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, a man who returned from Italy late last month and his father, the health ministry said.

File photo: CGTN

"A 54-year-old man and his 28-year-old son who returned by car from Florence tested positive for COVID-19," a ministry statement said.

The two are hospitalised in the capital Tirana and their health condition is stable, it said.

Albania is the fifth western Balkans country where the virus has spread after Croatia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Serbia where 19 people have been infected.

More than half are in Croatia.