An elderly American couple who spent half a century together died six minutes apart and holding hands after catching the coronavirus.
The soul mates clang on to one another to the very end as they succumbed to the virus in a Mississippi hospital on Wednesday.
Jerry and Frances Williamson, both 72, had fallen ill after taking a dream cruise ship holiday, according to Fox News.
They were said to have had eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
“Their faith was central to their lives,” Rick Clark, a pastor at the North Long Beach Baptist Church the couple belonged to, told the broadcaster.
The pastor said the couple had both tested positive for Covid-19 following a cruise.
It was not reported which cruise the couple had taken, or where they had travelled to.
The pair were put on ventilators at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, but tragically neither of them could be saved.
He conducted a ceremony for the couple at their Long Beach home.
Social distancing measures in many countries has seen funeral attendance limits brought in as part of efforts to halt the spread of the virus.
Mr Clark said the private service for the Williamsons was livestreamed for their loved ones on Facebook.
“I was quoting the Bibl. I said they were no longer suffering; they were no longer in pain. They were now with the Lord for their eternal rest.”
The United States has emerged as a major epicentre in the global pandemic.
The governors of New York, New Jersey and Louisiana have been pointed to tentative signs that the outbreak may be leveling off in their states.
But the leaders warned against complacency as the death toll nationwide for the US approached 11,000, led by a major outbreak in New York City.
According to the latest reports, in Mississippi where the couple died more than 1,700 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and 51 have died.
The state is among those where health authorities are pressing residents to wear face masks during the pandemic.
