THE VIRUS IN BRIEF

A MAN has spent £1,700 buying shopping for the vulnerable after seeing an elderly woman in tears when painkillers sold out.

Dean Vine, 33, found her some and put a message on Facebook urging others in need to contact him.

He and wife Natasha, right, have bought 50 bags of shopping for dozens of folk.

His employer, Thames Water, is matching the amount with vouchers to help him support people in Northfleet, Kent.

Mr Vine, a father of five, said: “I feel like we’re doing our bit to help and if we can inspire others to do the same, then even better.” A FARM worker is suspecting of dying from the virus which he caught from touching an infected gate. Cumbrian communities are panicstricken that a spike in walkers from today could put farm staff at increased danger with the spread of Covid-19. Tracie Roberts, an accountant at Ulverston-based JF Hornby, issued a fresh warning yesterday on behalf of the farming community. She said: “The issue here is that so many people are touching their gates as they open and close them, the farmers are fearful of catching Covid-19. “A member of the farming community in Cumbria sadly died from the coronavirus and his family are convinced he caught it by touching an infected gate. A further challenge for them is that many people are leaving gates open and livestock is escaping.”

A STUDENT aged 22 has been named as one of Britain’s youngest coronavirus victims.

Kapalu Musenyesa, from Zambia and studying at Middlesex University, was found dead in his North London flat.

His family were understood to have flown in for his funeral on Monday.

Friends said Mr Musenyesa – known as Kaps and pictured, right, – was discovered on April 20, hours after complaining of a fever and breathing difficulties.

He is the fourth Zambian national to die here. Three others are said to be in intensive care units.

THE number of organ transplants has plummeted to a 36-year low, it emerged yesterday.

Figures from NHS Blood and Transplant showed just 99 were carried out in the UK in April, down from 244 in March.

The last time the monthly total dropped below 100 was in 1984.

Professor Peter Friend, director of the Oxford Transplant Centre, said: “Every transplant that does not take place now means that a patient somewhere, and at some point, never receives their transplant.”

The cancellations have been made to ease demand on intensive care departments.Transplant recipients must also have their immune systems suppressed which would leave them vulnerable to coronavirus.