Ontario reports three new coronavirus cases, brings province's total to 18

Ontario is reporting three new cases of the novel coronavirus today, bringing the total in the province to 18.

The province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, is expected to provide details about the new cases at a news conference this afternoon.

A spate of new cases was reported over the weekend, all of them people who had recently travelled to Iran or Egypt, or family members of those who had visited the countries.

Williams has said that so far it doesn't appear the virus known as COVID-19 is spreading locally.

The province's first four cases were people with a travel history to China, where the outbreak originated, and three of them have since been completely cleared of the virus.

Iran has confirmed 1,501 cases of the virus and 66 deaths, but many believe the true number is larger as its caseload surged more than 250 per cent in just 24 hours.

Egypt has only two publicly reported cases of the illness.

In China, nearly 80,000 people have been diagnosed and more than 2,800 have died.

Ontario's three new cases bring Canada's total to 27, with eight cases in British Columbia and one in Quebec.