Coronavirus: Marie Curie nurse from Bromley dies

A 68-year-old woman has become the first member of the Marie Curie nursing team to die after contracting coronavirus.

The palliative care nurse from Bromley in south London died in intensive care on Easter Sunday.

Barbara Sage has been described as "a beautiful person" who had "an absolute passion" for her work.

It is unclear whether Ms Sage had any underlying health issues or whether she contracted the virus at work.

Matthew Reed, chief executive of Marie Curie, said: "Barbara was a beautiful person. She was kind, generous, giving, fun."

He said it was a "tragic loss" adding that her death had hit the Marie Curie family "really hard".

"Barbara had an absolute passion for this work.

"It was a real, deep pain for her family, that Barbara had been there to hold the hands of so many people as they had died, that they weren't able to be there to hold her hand as she died, and to hug her and to hold her and just be with her.

"And in due course we'll try and find a way in which we can have a way to mark Barbara's death with her family and with the whole organisation."

Ms Sage had spent more than 40 years working in palliative care and was a Marie Curie nurse for 14.

So far, more than 16,000 people have died after contracting coronavirus in the UK, with an estimated 160,000 deaths world-wide, according to Johns Hopkins University.