Sotiris Tsiodras

As health authorities confirmed the fourth case of coronavirus in Greece on Friday, the government pressed forward with its drive to contain its spread. 

The fourth case is a 36-year-old woman who recently returned to Athens from northern Italy, according to the head of the Health Ministry's committee of experts on contagious diseases, Athens University professor Sotiris Tsiodras. 

The government on Thursday moved a step closer to enforcing a set of emergency measures for the containment of the coronavirus after health authorities confirmed that two more people have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of cases in Greece to three.

The Greek government is stepping up measures to tackle the possible arrival in the country of the new, or "novel" coronavirus, now called 2019-nCoV, as experts warn that it could reach the country within the next three weeks. 

A coronavirus known to live in bats is the closest strain of the 2019-nCoV virus that first appeared in China's Wuhan region and has since spread to other parts of Asia, with cases reported in Europe, Australia and North America, a study by Greek scientists at Athens University and the University of Crete has revealed.

More than 700 cases of measles have been registered at hospitals across the country, mainly in Attica, since May this year, according to the latest data released by health authorities.