Doctor dies in the UK from suspected coronavirus

Dr Habib Zaidi, 76, died in intensive care at Southend Hospital, Essex, 24 hours after being taken ill on Tuesday

His daughter Dr Sarah Zaidi, also a GP, said he showed “text book symptoms” of Covid-19.

If test results confirm he had the virus then he would be the first doctor in the UK to die from the virus.

Dr Sarah Zaidi told the BBC: “For that to be the thing that took him is too much to bear. It is reflective of his sacrifice. He had a vocational attitude to service.

“He was treated as a definitive case. There is little clinical doubt it is coronavirus, the test result is academic.”

Dr Habib Zaidi, a GP in Leigh-on-Sea for more than 45 years, had been self-isolating and had not seen patients in person for about a week.

He was a managing partner of Eastwood Group Practice with his wife Dr Talat Zaidi.

All their four children work in the medical profession.

Patients and former staff have been paying tribute to a “well respected and loved GP” on social media.

Dr Zaidi’s widow has gone into quarantine away from the rest of the family.

Dr Sarah Zaidi said: “We can’t mourn in the normal way. We can’t have a normal funeral.”

Confirmed coronavirus deaths are announced by NHS England.

Read more via BBC