South Korea raised the travel advisory for three provinces in northern Italy on Friday after the European country reported a rapid increase in new coronavirus infections.

The foreign ministry issued a "yellow warning", which calls for travel restraint and is the third highest out of a four-level scale, for Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto in the country's north, according to the ministry website.

The ministry cited growing concern over person-to-person transmission as the number of infected cases in those areas has been rising fast. As of Thursday, over 600 coronavirus infections have been reported in the three regions.

The ministry called for South Korean nationals residing in the areas to take extra caution for their health and safety, while advising those planning trips there to carefully consider their visits.

(Yonhap)