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COVID-19: healthcare assistant dies soon after giving birth

Tributes also paid to mental health nurse who died after contracting the virus
Picture of healthcare assistant Becky Regan, who died due to COVID-19 shortly after giving birth

Tributes also paid to mental health nurse who died after contracting the virus

Picture of healthcare assistant Becky Regan, who died due to COVID-19 shortly after giving birth
Healthcare assistant Becky Regan, who died shortly after giving birth Picture: PA Wire

Tributes have been paid to a healthcare assistant in North Shields who died due to COVID-19 shortly after giving birth, and to a mental health nurse at a hospital in Enfield, who also died after contracting the virus.

Healthcare assistant Becky Regan, 29, who worked at North Tyneside Hospital, was remembered by family and colleagues with a minute’s silence on 5 February. A fundraising website set up for Ms Regan while she was in hospital says she did not have the chance to meet her baby, her fourth child, delivered by caesarean section at 31 weeks.

Devastated by the loss of a friend and colleague

Northumbria Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Sir James Mackey said staff were devastated by the loss of their friend and colleague.

‘While every death during this pandemic has been a tragedy, the loss of Becky will feel especially painful, having just given birth, and her close family are now dealing with the worst possible news,’ he said.

‘Our thoughts are also with her close colleagues and those who treated her during her illness, who will also be grieving her loss.’

Picture of Tonderai Dzingai, a mental health nurse and ward manager who has died due to COVID-19
Tonderai Dzingai was a mental health nurse and ward manager

Mental health nurse Tonderai Dzingai – a respected ward manager

Colleagues have also paid tribute to ‘amazing nurse and true gentleman’ Tonderai Dzingai, who died after contracting COVID-19.

Mr Dzingai, a mental health nurse and ward manager at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield, died on 5 February.

Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust chief executive Jinjer Kandola said: ‘It is with great sadness that we share the news of the loss of our dear colleague and friend Tonderai Dzingai due to COVID-19.

‘Tonderai was a much-loved and respected ward manager. He was a highly valued colleague and friend of all those who worked in our forensic services and to many others across the trust, a man with a huge heart and a big smile.’

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that more than 250 nurses and healthcare assistants have died of COVID-19 in England and Wales since the start of the pandemic.


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