Covid-19 caused the death of a man in Serbia last February, 10 days before the first fatality from the disease in Europe was reported by France, a study by researchers in Belgrade has found.

Milenko Bogdanovic, a forensic pathologist, said a study by 12 experts, published by the Frontiers in Medicine magazine last week, suggested that Covid-19 was present in Europe long before previously thought.

According to a Reuters' report, a 56-year-old construction worker from Belgrade, who had not travelled abroad, was admitted on February 5, 2020 to hospital suffering from fever, cough and shortness of breath. He died within hours and an autopsy showed pneumonia was the cause.

Months later, however, scientists at the Institute for Forensic Medicine of Belgrade's Medical Faculty, found evidence that the man had died from Covid-19.