The daughter of a Heathrow immigration officer who died from coronavirus was also killed by the disease herself just 24 hours later.
Sudhir Sharma, who worked at Terminal 3, passed away on Wednesday before pharmacist Pooja suffered the same tragic fate the following day, The Sun reports.
The father, 61, from Hounslow in west London, last worked on January 7, therefore officials don’t believe he contracted Covid-19 on duty and likely picked it up elsewhere.
Pooja Sharma, pictured left, died of coronavirus just 24 hours after her father Sudhir, pictured right, also lost his life to the disease
He is believed to have had underlying health problems, forcing him to be absent at work, but had recently returned to his job on the frontline.
A source told the website: ‘It’s an absolute tragedy. He was a lovely, lovely man. Every immigration officer is talking about it.
‘There are concerns about his widow being unable to attend the funeral because of the isolation issues. It’s just so awful.’
Pooja, 33, worked as a pharmacist in East Sussex at Eastbourne District General Hospital and is thought to have received three days of care and treatment for the virus before her death.
The father worked as an immigration officer at Terminal 3, pictured, at Heathrow airport
Whether the relatives were in close contact with each other before the tragedies is not clear, but friends and colleagues have since rushed to pay tribute.
Nick Jariwalla, director of Border Force at Heathrow, told The Sun: ‘Sudhir was a very well-respected, kind and experienced officer. He will be greatly missed by everyone.’
A friend of the daughter posted: ‘Really sorry to hear that one of our fellow pharmacists and a friend of mine since university, Pooja, and her father have passed away.
‘May their souls rest in peace. Sending my heartiest condolences, prayers and love to their family.’
They added: ‘Please, please, please inform family and friends to take this very seriously and to self-isolate, socially distance themselves as much as possible, for their families if not for themselves.’
Pooja, 33, worked as a pharmacist in East Sussex at Eastbourne District General Hospital, pictured, and is thought to have received three days of care and treatment for the virus before her death
It came as the UK’s coronavirus death toll jumped by a third to 759 after officials announced 181 more victims of the killer infection in the biggest daily rise yet.
Health chiefs also confirmed almost 15,000 Britons have now caught the virus.
Criticism of the government also grew yesterday as Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock tested positive and are self-isolating, while Professor Chris Whitty, the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, is working from home after he developed symptoms.
Michael Gove, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, was forced to defend the government’s approach to the crisis after it hit hard at the heart of Westminster as he took part in the now daily Number 10 coronavirus press conference.
It was suggested to Mr Gove that ministers had at best been ‘careless’ and at worst ‘negligent’ by allowing the killer bug to infect Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock amid criticism of the government’s testing efforts.
But Mr Gove argued the fact they had caught coronavirus showed it ‘does not discriminate’ and ‘we are all at risk’ as he said: ‘The fact that the virus is no respecter of individuals, whoever they are, is one of the reasons why we do need to have strict social distancing measures.’