BROTHER OF FIRST VIRUS CASE DIES
■ Family confirms death of Sunderland man with coronavirus
The family of a Sunderland man who was fighting for his life in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus have confirmed that he has sadly died.
Joe Jenkins was rushed into Sunderland Royal Hospital on Saturday, March 28, and tested positive with coronavirus.
The 65-year-old is the brother of Marion Jolliff who was the first person to have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sunderland earlier last month.
Tragically, his daughter Eva Jenkins has confirmed that he sadly died yesterday.
The beloved father developed a cough while he was in Spain for his 40th wedding anniversary and his temperature began to rise last week.
Eva says he was surrounded by close family when the father, who lived on the Ford Estate, passed away.
His sister, Marion, has beaten the virus.
However,she still has a long way to go in her recovery.
Posting on Facebook, Marion’s son Alen Jolliff paid tribute to his uncle.
He said: “Cannot believe my uncle Joe lost his battle to this horrendous virus.
“Can people please stay at home to stop it spreading?
“I don’t want more families to go through the heartache we’ve been through over last few weeks.”
Speaking to the Echo on Monday before the devastating news, Eva said: “It’s just been a total nightmare for the whole family.
“Both my dad and auntie self-isolated for two weeks when they began developing symptoms.
“However, they still both ended up in hospital.”
New figures released yesterday, from NHS England show six more people have died in hospitals operated by the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS foundation Trust – two on March 30 and four on March 31.
Housewife Marion, 62, was in an induced coma at South Tyneside Hospital after she developed coronavirus in early March.
The grandmother from Pennywell has now tested negative for the illness.
But she still has not returned to full health yet.
Eva said: “My Auntie Marion may have beaten the virus, but she still has a long way to go yet.”
On Monday, it was confirmed that there were 22,141 positive cases of COVID-19 across the UK.