George Floyd had COVID-19 before his death in police custody, autopsy shows

George Floyd, the African-American man killed in police custody in the US, had COVID-19 before his death, an autopsy has revealed.

The report of the autopsy carried out by Hennepin County Medical Examiner, however, said the disease did not contribute to his death.

The testing for the disease was carried out via a nasal swab.

The autopsy released publicly read: “Viral testing (Minnesota Department of Health, postmortem nasal swab collected 5/26/2020): positive for 2019-nCoV RNA by PCR.”

Floyd was said to have tested positive for the coronavirus on April 3 and was asymptomatic when he died in police custody.

The autopsy confirmed the cause of his death was a forceful restraint on the neck, which was by a police officer in Minneapolis.

His death on May 25 has triggered protest across the US and in other countries, calling for justice and an end to racism.

Protests turned violent in some parts of the country, forcing President Donald Trump to deploy force in quelling the crisis.

The officer who knelt on his neck has been charged with second-degree murder while the three others who were involved in the incident face counts of aiding and abetting murder.