A 13-year-old schoolboy has become the youngest victim of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.K.
Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab from Brixton, south London died at King's College Hospital early Monday after testing positive for COVID-19 last Friday.
"Ismail started showing symptoms and had difficulties breathing and was admitted to King's College Hospital. He was put on a ventilator and then put into an induced coma but sadly died yesterday morning," his family said in a statement.
The family, who lost their father to cancer, said the young teenager had no underlying health conditions.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Madinah College in London to cover his funeral expenses.
"It is with great sadness to announce that the younger brother of one of our teachers at Madinah College has sadly passed away this morning (Monday 30th March 2020) due to being infected with COVID-19," the page read.
"Ismael was only 13 years old without any pre-existing health conditions and sadly he died without any family members close by due to the highly infectious nature of COVID-19," it said.
"May Allah grant the family patience through this difficult time and make it a means of drawing closer to Him."
Britain reported a record daily coronavirus death toll of 381 on Tuesday, more than double the number of nationwide deaths posted in the previous 24 hours.
But experts warned not to read too much in the figures, citing indications that stringent measures put in place last week to cut close-contact transmission of COVID-19 were working.
"As of 5 pm (1600 GMT) on 30 March, of those hospitalized in the U.K., 1,789 have sadly died," the health ministry said on its Twitter page – up from 1,408 on Monday.
The patients were aged between 19 and 98, and all but 28 had underlying health conditions, NHS England said in a statement.
The country's previous highest daily toll was 260, recorded Saturday, with the number dropping to 180 on Monday.
Some 25,150 people have now tested positive for the virus in Britain, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a daily increase of 3,009.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for England and Wales on Tuesday revealed that the true toll could be 24% higher.
