Coronavirus: Muslim nurse becomes latest UK health worker to die from virus

A Muslim nurse has become the latest British health worker to die after contracting the coronavirus. 

Mother-of-three Areema Nasreen, 36, died early on Friday in intensive care at Walsall Manor Hospital, where she worked, after initially developing body aches and a high temperature on 13 March.

Paying tribute, friend and fellow nurse Rubi Aktar described her as “the most loveliest, genuine person you could ever meet”. 

"She was always so full of life. She was devoted to her job as a nurse, she absolutely loved it. She passed away doing what she loved," a family member told radio station Black Country Live.

Nasreen’s sister Kazeema told Sky News that her sister was normally fit and healthy, and could have contracted Covid-19 “virtually anywhere”. 

In a statement, Richard Beeken, chief executive of Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “Areema was extremely committed to her role as a staff nurse on the acute medical unit at Walsall Manor Hospital.

"She was a professional, passionate nurse who started at the trust as a housekeeper in 2003 before working hard to gain her nursing qualification in January 2019."

Nasreen is the sixth Muslim health worker to die in the UK’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. 

Dr Adil El Tayar, Dr Habib Zaidi, and Dr Amged El-Hawrani, were among the first National Health Service workers to die of the virus in the UK. 

This was followed on Tuesday by the news that Nigerian-British doctor Alfa Sa'adu died while volunteering on the frontlines.

On Thursday, a prominent British-Egyptian doctor, Professor Mohamed Sami Shousha, died after contracting the virus two weeks earlier.