UK family faces double tragedy as coronavirus kills Heathrow immigration officer and pharmacist daughter
The daughter of a Heathrow immigration officer, who died of COVID-19, also succumbed to the disease around 24 hours later.
Sudhir Sharma, 61, who used to work at Terminal 3 died on Wednesday, March 25, while his daughter, Pooja, 33, a pharmacist, suffered the same fate the following day. Sudhir who hails from Hounslow in London, had last worked on January 7, so officials don't believe he contracted COVID-19 while on duty.
It is believed he contracted the virus elsewhere and reportedly had underlying health problems and had stayed away from work until recently returning to his job, the Sun reports. A source shared, "It's an absolute tragedy. He was a lovely, lovely man. Every immigration officer is talking about it."
"There are concerns about his widow being unable to attend the funeral because of the isolation issues. It's just so awful," the source added. Pooja was working at Eastbourne District General Hospital in East Sussex. She received three days of care and treatment for the coronavirus before succumbing to it.
It is unclear whether the two relatives had been in contact with each other before the tragedies. Director of Border Force at Heathrow, Nick Jariwalla, shared, "Sudhir was a very well-respected, kind and experienced officer. He will be greatly missed by everyone."
A friend of Pooja's posted, "Really sorry to hear that one of our fellow pharmacists and a friend of mine since university, Pooja, and her father have passed away. May their souls rest in peace. Sending my heartiest condolences, prayers, and love to their family."
The friend added, "Please, please, please inform family and friends to take this very seriously and to self-isolate, socially distance themselves as much as possible, for their families if not for themselves."
Airport employees have shared that they had major fears over the protection being given to UK immigration and visa staff who are working at Heathrow and other ports of entry. One worker shared, "The first signs of coronavirus came in December and we were still taking flights in from Wuhan, where the pandemic began."
"They did do some screening of passengers before those routes were finally canceled, but flights from China generally continued. And even when those were restricted, we had hundreds of people flying in on Chinese passports from Hong Kong. They simply bypassed the block."
"We were still accepting flights from northern Italy until six weeks ago or so. And there are still flights coming in from Madrid and all over the US," the worker added. When asked about immigration employee's lack of protective equipment, a Home Office spokeswoman shared, "The safety of the public and our staff is of the utmost importance. In line with Public Health England guidance, all staff have protective clothing and equipment available, including masks and disposable gloves, for when they are in close contact with anyone displaying symptoms."
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had tested positive for the deadly virus on Friday and is self-isolating. The UK currently has 14,543 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and there have been around 759 deaths so far.