The family of a 13-year-old boy who died after testing positive for coronavirus will not be able to attend his funeral, according to reports, after two of them also tested positive.
Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, from south London, England, passed away in the early hours of Monday. Reports state his family weren’t able to be by his side due to the risk of infection.
Metro say that the teenager is set to be buried today, but none of his family – including his mom and six siblings – will not be allowed to be present as they are forced to self-isolate.
Mark Stephenson, a close friend of the family, confirmed that Ismail’s younger brother and older sister have developed symptoms of COVID-19 that include a high temperature and loss of taste.
“Shaykh Sharif Zain will be leading the funeral and I will be delivering a short speech for the Abdulwahab family and a few close family and friends,” Stephenson said.
“We hope that we can send a live stream of the funeral to his mother and siblings so they can be there remotely, but they are obviously devastated that they can’t be there in person again.
“It’s extremely upsetting for everyone involved, but they have been very moved by the warmth and very positive messages of support from people following their appeal.”
Ismail died at 3am on Monday morning after his lungs failed and he went into cardiac arrest. It’s said he had no known underlying health problems.
A GoFundMe page was established in his memory to help cover the costs of his funeral. At the time of writing it has raised £68,000 ($83,300), far exceeding its £4,000 ($4,900) target.
Rest in peace, Ismail, the world is surely worse off for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers go out to this little boy’s family.
We must all be aware by now that coronavirus is a serious problem that isn’t going away anytime soon. Only by accepting preventative measures can we hope to slow its spread and save more lives.
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