Italy has detected a patient infected with the new strain of the coronavirus also found in Britain, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The patient and his partner returned from the United Kingdom in the last few days with a flight that landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport and were now in isolation, the ministry said.

Britain's European neighbours began closing their doors to travellers from the United Kingdom on Sunday amid alarm about the rapidly spreading strain of coronavirus that has caused cases to soar there.