Coronavirus: Tributes to Covid death dad, 35, whose wife is pregnant

Tributes have been paid to a man who died with Covid-19 shortly after his wife discovered she was pregnant with their second child.

Chinedu Ekwunife, 35, died at Ipswich Hospital on 14 June after battling the disease for two-and-a-half months.

His wife, who found out she was expecting just a week after he was admitted, said her "whole world" had been "swept from under my feet".

Friends described Mr Ekwunife as "brilliant, cheerful and good".

They have raised more than £40,000 for his widow.

The software engineer, who was born in Nigeria, had studied at Southampton University and lived and worked in Ipswich.

He and Lotachi married in 2006 and their daughter, Chimamanda, is aged two.

"One week after Chinedu was admitted to the hospital, I found out we were expecting another baby," Mrs Ekwunife said.

Her husband was on a ventilator but she sent him messages about the baby, and said: "When he started recovering the nurses informed him as well during our assisted phone conversation hoping that will help him quickly recover."

She was by his side when he died in hospital.

"It has been painful and a very difficult time to witness my husband and the father of our kids suffer in the hands of this dreadful virus, he fought really hard to stay with us but God knows the best," she said.

Ozioma Uzoegwu, best man at the Ekwunifes' wedding, described his friend as a "real fighter" in a tribute.

He said: "The doctors and nurses [were] amazed by your fighting spirit and rooting for you to fully recover."

Mr Uzoegwu helped to set up a fundraising page to "provide for the family as they begin to navigate life ahead".