London family say ‘caring’ retired Heathrow Airport worker’s Covid-19 death ‘could have been avoided’

By Thomas Kingsley | MALAYSIA |

Behind every coronavirus statistic is a grieving family who has lost a loved one. Among these is Southall resident Harpal Virdee, who along with her two siblings, lost her dad, Satnam Singh Virdee, a retired Heathrow Airport worker.

Ms Virdee told MyLondon that her dad, aged 67, began to show coronavirus symptoms prior to the official lockdown, after attending a wedding and a funeral a few days before. The latter also being attended by the local Sikh priest who passed away five days before Mr Virdee.

She believes the Government’s failure to enforce lockdown earlier led to people not understanding how serious the vrus was.

Ms Virdee said: “We didn’t understand how serious and contagious it [coronavirus] really was.

“We only understood the seriousness of it when he passed away. We’re so scared we haven’t left the house since. We’ve gone crazy as a result of it. My little one’s nursery said they’re starting to come back – but I said ‘no absolutely not’.

Ms Virdee said her father’s condition seemed stable at points, even when he was admitted to ICU, so she was shocked to hear he had taken a turn for the worse and eventually passed away on April 19.

Ms Virdee now believes people need to take the situation into “their own hands” and decide for themselves what to do. Her brother, who is an NHS doctor, warned the family to self-isolate prior to the lockdown and Ms Virdee told us this is what they will do until it seems safe, irregardless of Government advice.

Read the full story, Ealing family say ‘caring’ retired Heathrow Airport worker’s Covid-19 death ‘could have been avoided’ (MyLondon, 11 May 2020), here