Two brothers who worked at the same newsagent in south Wales died within hours of each other in the same intensive care unit after contracting coronavirus.
Ghulam Abbas, 59 and Raza Abbas, 54, died side by side on 21 April in the Royal Gwent hospital in Newport.
Their father, Ghulam Mohammed, had died from ill-health three weeks earlier.
Raza Abbas was admitted into hospital first and had been in a coma since 27 March. Ghulam Abbas was admitted to hospital on 7 April after he tested positive for the virus.
News of their deaths coincided with International Workers’ Memorial Day on Tuesday, with people across Britain holding a minute’s silence at 11am to remember the key workers who have died from coronavirus.
Rukhsar Abbas, Ghulam Abbas’s daughter, said: “I didn’t realise how much of a well-known family we had, and how much of an impact my father and his brother had on the community, until now.
“We’ve had so many messages of support from members of the community and further afield, and even MPs have contacted us to send their condolences.”
The family ran a newsagent in Pill, Newport, South Wales. Mubarak Ali, brother-in-law to Ghulam and Raza Abbas, said: “It’s totally surreal to think that two brothers have passed away by each other’s side.”
In east London, another family lost two loved ones to the coronavirus on the same day. Betty Hill, 72, and her husband Ken, 69, died within 24 hours of each other having contracted coronavirus.
The “proud East Enders”, who were together for more than 40 years, were lifelong West Ham fans and described as “local heroes” by the mayor.
Rokhsana Fiaz, the Newham mayor, said: “The couple were well known to us at the council, because Ken was the secretary of the East Ham branch of the Royal British Legion and we worked with him to organise the annual Remembrance Day event in East Ham’s Central Park.”
West Ham Football Club also paid tribute in a statement, which described the couple as “both loyal and popular fans”.
