Prosecutors examine claims Covid spread in Italy before official confirmation

New evidence could change the timeline of the pandemic in Italy', say lawyers for victims' families

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Italian prosecutors are examining fresh evidence that suggests coronavirus was spreading in the country weeks before the first case of local transmission was officially detected as criminal investigations continue into continental Europe's deadliest outbreak.

Lawyers representing the families of Covid-19 victims say the medical records of a man in his 50s who was admitted to a hospital with bilateral pneumonia at the end of January 2020 in Bergamo, the Lombardy province severely hit during the first wave of the pandemic, could change the timeline of the pandemic in Italy".