Seven residents at east London care home die with suspected coronavirus and 21 others fall ill

Follow our live coronavirus updates here Coronavirus: the symptoms
Hawthorn Green care home
Google

Seven residents have died with suspected coronavirus infections at a care home in east London where another 21 others are ill with possible symptoms, it emerged today.

A dozen staff from the Hawthorn Green home in Stepney, which has around 50 residents, are also off work, either self-isolating or shielding.

The deaths will heighten fears about the threat posed by the virus to care home residents and come in the wake of a warning by the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, that nearly one in 10 nationwide has already registered cases.

A spokesman for the care home said: “Like many care homes across the UK, Hawthorn Green is now caring for residents who are symptomatic with coronavirus.

"Regrettably, seven residents have died who had symptoms consistent with Covid-19. Twenty-one residents are showing at least one symptom consistent with the virus.

“Immediately upon detecting either a high temperature, a cough, shortness of breath or any combination of these each resident is cared for in isolation in accordance with strict infection control measures.”

Tributes were today paid to Jamshad Ali, a retired tailor for Burberry who moved to London from Bangladesh in 1962.

Jamshad Ali

He had lived in the home for just over three years. He died at the Royal London Hospital on March 24 after contracting Covid-19 a week after being returned to the home following an admission for a chest infection.

His family had been told in the meantime by the care home that other residents had coronavirus and several more were showing symptoms.

They were not allowed to be at his bedside and only a few were permitted to attend his burial.

His daughter Luthfa Hood, 51, said: “If we had known the virus was so prevalent in Hawthorn Green we would not have sent him back there after he had been in hospital. We knew that if he got it, that would be him done.

“They should have rolled out testing and isolating earlier. He was back in A&E a few days after returning to the care home.

"We cannot praise the NHS enough for what they did. But there needs to be more testing, especially in places like care homes.”

Ms Hood, 51, added: “He was always incredibly well turned out. Even after he retired he always looked so smart. I remember him coming home once when I was a child, about 10, and him handing me a little coat with a Burberry label in it. Of course I didn’t know how special that was then. He was a traditional and very hardworking man.”

Mr Ali leaves behind a wife, four children, 12 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His granddaughter, Shahara Islam, was killed on the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square in the 7/7 terrorist bombings of 2005.

A spokesman for the care home said: “Mr Ali was a much-loved member of Hawthorn Green Care Home and he will be greatly missed — our hearts go out to his family.”

He added: “We appreciate that this is a very worrying time for residents, families and our staff and we are doing everything we can to provide the best care in the days and weeks ahead. That is our number one priority.”

There are growing concerns about the care sector’s ability to cope with the pandemic and warnings over a lack of protective equipment for staff.

The Department of Health said: “We are working around the clock to give the social care sector the support they need to tackle this outbreak, including providing personal protective equipment to over 26,000 care home providers across the country.”

Lockdown London

1/14

Meanwhile, more fatalities among medical workers were disclosed today.

Anton Sebastianpillai, a consultant geriatrician who had returned from retirement to help during the crisis, died at Kingston Hospital on Saturday four days after being admitted to intensive care. Mr Sebastianpillai, who qualified in Sri Lanka in 1967, finished his last shift on March 20.

His local MP, the Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said he had been “hugely respected”.

Alice Kit Tak Ong, a 70-year-old nurse who had worked in the NHS since moving to London from Hong Kong in the Seventies, has also died.

Daughter Melissa Ong, 37, said: “She was completely dedicated to her work, that’s what she was doing until the moment she was taken ill.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in