Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

These Brazilian brothers who worked together have both tragically died on the same day after contracting COVID-19.

Brothers Jones Costa de Lima, 36, and Jean Carlos Costa de Lima, 34, were both being treated at the Santa Rita Metropolitan Hospital on the outskirts of the city of Joao Pessoa in the northeastern Brazilian state of Paraiba.

Local media report the two brothers contracted COVID-19 along with their parents and sister and Jean Carlos was the first to be hospitalised when his condition worsened.

His brother joined him in the hospital just a few days later and their cousin Maricelio de Lima told reporters: “Jean’s condition worsened, he went to an emergency care unit in early June and was then transferred to the metropolitan hospital.

“The same thing happened with Jones, he was hospitalised in the private hospital in Joao Pessoa and later transferred to the metropolitan in the same week. Unfortunately, it is a big loss for our family.”

Both brothers reportedly died on Monday (15th June).

Maricelio said both brothers were car salesmen who worked in the same company in the town of Guarabira. Both brothers were reportedly married with three children each.

Their parents and sister have reportedly recovered from the virus and their cousin said: “We are sure they [the brothers] are in God’s arms after the suffering they went through at the Metropolitan Hospital.”

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has suffered 923,189 cases of COVID-19 and 45,241 deaths, the second-highest in the world.

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