The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Emotional plea for social distancing after virus death
The cousin of a 30-year-old Peterborough man who has died after contracting coronavirus has issued an emotional plea for people to respect lockdown guidelines.
Well known Peterborough charity supporter Atiq Rehman posted an emotional video pleading with the public to take the coronavirus lockdown seriously following the tragic death of his cousin Ali Hussein.
Mr Rehman, who is a founder member of the Children of Adam charity group said in the video: “Reaching out to all my loved ones out there, this by far is one of the hardest videos I have ever done!
“We as a whole family are lost for words that our cousin brother Ali has sadly passed away form this horrific coronavirus. He was 30 years of age with autism, with an untouchable soul, always happy, loving, caring and very handsome. The reason for this post is PLEASE don’t take this whole thing as a joke, people are still out and about like nothing has happened !
“I have lost the light of our home, my cousin brother is no longer with us due to this horrific virus, from all my family we are asking you all look at what we are going through right now. STAY AT HOME.
“My aunty will never ever see her son again, we will never see our brother again this has broken our whole family to pieces. Ali, I will always love you from my soul, on behalf of my whole family we thank the all the doctors and nurses who worked around the clock to give him life but was unable to save his soul.
“Please this was not easy for me, but my love for all of you out there is big and I care about you all! Take this as a wake up call, fix up and only go out if it’s a must!
“I ask everyone to pray for my brother, my whole family, and to anyone going through a bad time.”
Peterborough’s Helping Hands Group also posted on its Facebook page: “It is with immense sadness and shock that we tonight learnt of the passing of our beloved Ali. All of our thoughts and prayers are with the Hussain family during this tragic time.”
As the PT went to press it was confirmed that 21 patients with coronavirus had died at Peterborough City Hospital, all were said to have underlying health issues.