A hospital chaplain and imam has shared the moment he conducted the final rites on a woman suffering from Covid who had given birth to her fifth child days before.

Fazlurrahman Hassan is the Muslim chaplain at Royal Blackburn Hospital and said he wanted to share the heart-breaking moment as a warning to those who were still flouting lockdown rules.

He said: “Friday 8th January 2021, was one of my most difficult and emotionally moving end of life visits to date.

"I was bleeped to a patient in the critical care unit and was met by a devastated and weeping husband in the room where his wife, who had given birth to a baby last week, lay helpless in her last moments succumbing to the Covid-19 virus.

“It was difficult to contain myself when I saw the pictures of the beautiful baby boy on the walls, staring at his helpless mother who was in a coma sadly in her last stages.

“It was absolutely heart-breaking knowing this mother will never see her baby and the baby will never see his mother, at least not in this world. The Quran Cube recitation was soothing amidst the sombre and sad room.

“It was with a heavy heart that I conducted the last rites of passage and the end of life prayer with tears involuntarily rolling down, under my stuffy and uncomfortable respirator hood.

“The ventilator was eventually switched off and her soul left this mortal world on Friday to meet her Almighty creator.

“This is a really sad story but the wisdom behind this act of fate will only make sense when one day she will take her family along with her into paradise (Inshallah).

“May the Almighty Allah reunite this family in paradise and grant her five children and her bereaved husband the strength to cope with this huge tragedy.”

He said in the post on Instagram that he wanted to highlight the need for everyone to religiously stick to the Covid-19 guidance and realise how Covid-19 was affecting people of all ages – healthy or not.

“This virus is very real and does not discriminate with age, gender, or ethnicity and can be fatal if caught.

“Let us not get caught up in conspiracy theories when innocent, young and healthy people are losing their lives like this young sister. Being healthy does not guarantee protection. Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic.

“So please follow the Shariah by respecting the government lockdown rules, take all the necessary precautions and please, stay at home.”