A 65-year-old man who suffered from chronic respiratory problems died in the Montenegrin clinical centre in Podgorica upon his admission to the hospital on Sunday, and local authorities reported that the man had tested positive to COVID-19.

The Montenegrin healthcare authorities said that the man had been in Serbia in mid-March when that country had already registered the outbreak of the COVID-19 infection.

Informing the public of the first COVID-19- related fatality in Montenegro, the head of the Public Health Institute, Boban Mogusa, said that the infection was spreading in Montenegro, and “showing its uglier face: the fact that one can die of this disease.”

On Sunday evening, there were 22 COVID-19 confirmed cases of this infection in Montenegro.