Couple married 60 years die hours apart from coronavirus

An elderly couple who were married for more than 60 years have died a couple of hours apart after contracting the coronavirus.

Severa Belotti, 82, and Luigi Carrara, 86, lived in the town of Albino, in the northern Italian province of Bergamo and reportedly spent eight days locked at home with a fever of 39 degrees.

They were eventually taken to hospital last weekend but their son Luca Carrara to local newspaper Corriere della Sera that they “died alone” in the facility as he was unable to say goodbye.

“Your loved ones stay alone and you cannot say bye, hug them, trying to give some comfort” he added.

The son also wrote a touching message on social media which read: “Hi mum and dad, this bad virus made you leave the same day, will you keep bickering up there too? I think so, but then everything ended up in a hug”.

Luca, who is currently in quarantine with his family, said his father had no pre-existing medical conditions, saying “my father did not know what going to the doctor was” and said that “the truth is that this is not the common flu, it is a terrible flu and if you end up in hospital, you leave dead or alive”.

The son says he was not able to see his parents’ bodies after their death because they were taken to the cemetery and will be cremated within days because “there are too many dead people”.

There have been 12,462 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Italy, the most anywhere outside of mainland China, and 827 people have died.

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