Predrag Kon: The virus was in circulation long before the first confirmed case

Predrag Kon: The virus was in circulation long before the first confirmed case

After several months of analysis, Serbian scientists have determined that a 56-year-old man, who died in Serbia on February 5 after severe, bilateral pneumonia, actually died of coronavirus, but that at that time it was not yet diagnosed.

"We should congratulate our colleagues for managing to make such an important discovery, and later to publish it. This research is very important because it confirms that the virus was in circulation long before the first confirmed case in Serbia on March 6," Dr Kon said for "Blic".

"Already after January 20, when the coronavirus got hold of the whole Europe, and before the available tests, we set up a certain border control to monitor whether passengers with fever are coming. This news is just proof that the virus existed before we were aware of it”, Kon said.

Kon adds that the French were the first to come out with data that the new coronavirus was present in Europe earlier than thought.

This work by a group of 13 Serbian scientists gathered at the Faculty of Medicine, published on January 19 this year, confirms that the first proven coronavirus-related death in Europe occurred in Serbia on February 5 last year, a month before the first officially recorded case of coronavirus was registered in our country.