Indian couple in UAE die five days apart; tested negative for COVID-19: report

An Indian couple, who lived in the UAE for over three decades, have died five days apart here due to natural causes, according to a media report.

Hailing from Kerala, Sophia Habeeb, 57, died on April 18 following a week's treatment at a hospital here, the Gulf News reported on Sunday.

Sophia's grieving husband, AR Habeeb Rahman, 66, passed away at a Sharjah hospital five days later on April 23, said the family of the deceased, adding that none of the two had tested positive for COVID-19.

They are survived by three children who are all employed here.

The children decided to lay their parents to rest in the UAE, which has been their home.

We tried our best to lay them to rest in the same place. But due to the movement restrictions due to COVID-19, we couldn't do it, said Haifa.

Sophia was buried in Al Quoz while Habeeb was buried in Sharjah, the report said.

Haifa, the eldest child of the deceased couple, said her parents were very attached.

We knew they can't live without each other, said Haifa.

She said her mother had died of heart attack and tested negative for COVID-19 three times.

Papa died in the shock after our mother left us, she said.

Habeeb, who had landed in the UAE 43-years ago, was working with a private company in Sharjah. Sophia joined him here after their wedding in 1985, the report said.

The UAE has so far reported 10,349 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 76 deaths attributed to the infection, the paper reported.

The official death toll from the virus topped 200,000 worldwide, with over 2.9 million confirmed infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.