More than £50,000 raised for family of 13-year-old boy who died after testing positive for Covid-19

1 April 2020, 12:09

By Nick Hardinges

@NHardinges

More than £50,000 has been raised for the family of the 13-year-old boy who died on Monday after testing positive for coronavirus.

Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab from Brixton, south London, died in hospital in the early hours of Monday after contracting Covid-19.

The boy, who is thought to be the youngest person in the UK to die with the virus, was admitted to King's College Hospital last Thursday and had no apparent underlying health conditions.

An online fundraiser created by Madinah College in Brixton has already raised almost £55,000 as of Wednesday morning, more than 13 times more than the initial £4,000 target.

Family friend Mark Stephenson, the director of the college, where Ismail's sister works, set up the GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral costs and for the family, who also lost Ismail's father to cancer.

The page says: "Sadly he died without any family members close by due to the highly infectious nature of Covid-19.

"We at Madinah College would like to appeal to our brothers and sisters to donate generously to help raise £4000 for the funeral costs and to support the family, who sadly also lost their father to cancer."

The page later added: "The family is overwhelmed and grateful to all the donors and prayers, may Allah bless you and reward you all."

At the time of writing, the fundraiser has had more than 3,000 donors and the page has been shared at least 1,200 times.

Many people leaving money offered their thoughts and prayers to the family, with one saying they "hadn't slept all night thinking about him."

Mr Stephenson said the boy's mother and six siblings are now awaiting the results of a post-mortem.

As of Tuesday, 1,801 people have now died after contracting the virus in the UK, with all but 28 of the patients having had underlying health conditions.

The 28 who did not were aged between 19 and 91.

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A spokesman 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."