Boy, 13, with no apparent underlying health conditions dies after testing positive for coronavirus
Video report by ITV News Health Correspondent Emily Morgan
A 13-year-old boy with no apparent underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for coronavirus, his family has said.
Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab from Brixton, south London, died in hospital in the early hours of Monday.
He had tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, a day after he was admitted to King’s College Hospital, his family said.
It is reported he was put into a coma and ITV News understands he died of a cardiac arrest.
Family friend Mark Stephenson said the boy’s mother and six siblings are now awaiting the results of a post mortem.
A spokesperson for King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Sadly, a 13-year old boy who tested positive for Covid-19 has passed away, and our thoughts and condolences are with the family at this time.
“The death has been referred to the coroner and no further comment will be made.”
Ismail’s family said they were “beyond devastated” by his death, in a statement released through Mr Stephenson.
“Ismail started showing symptoms and had difficulties breathing and was admitted to King’s College Hospital,” the family said.
“He was put on a ventilator and then put into an induced coma but sadly died yesterday morning. To our knowledge he had no underlying health conditions. We are beyond devastated.”
Mr Stephenson, college director at the Madinah College where Ismail’s sister works, has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral costs.
The page says: “Sadly he died without any family members close by due to the highly infectious nature of Covid-19.”
The family's statement comes as the death toll in the UK rose by 381 to 1,789.
The figure is up from 1,408 the day before and as of 9am on Tuesday, a total of 143,186 people have been tested, with 25,150 testing positive.
A 19-year-old with no underlying health conditions became one of the latest victims of Covid-19 in England.
The Italian chef, named by news website La Repubblica as Luca Di Nicola, was at that stage believed to be England’s youngest victim who died in hospital with no existing medical issues.
Ages of victims are not being routinely released elsewhere in the UK.
NHS England said the patients who died in hospital were aged between 19 to 98 and all but 28 had underlying health conditions.
Belgium has seen the youngest victim yet of coronavirus in Europe, with a 12-year-old girl tragically dying there on Tuesday.
It’s not known if there were underlying health issues in this case, but it shows all too starkly that, while deaths among the young are rare, they are far from unknown.
The EU continues to be wracked by an internal argument over whether the costs of recovering from this crisis should be shared equally, or whether it is to be each country on their own.