The grieving family of the "truly loving and wonderful" man who died after testing positive for coronavirus have issued a statement.
In a statement on Saturday (7/3), the family, who are currently self-isolating, said they cannot yet make funeral arrangements and "grieve him as we would wish to".
The 83-year-old tested positive for coronavirus shortly before his death at Milton Keynes Hospital on Thursday (5/3).
In a statement, the family said: "We as a family have lost a truly loving and wonderful person and are trying to come to terms with this. He was 83-years-old and a wonderful husband, dad, grandad and great-grandad who would go to any lengths to support his family."
The man, who has not been named, was admitted to hospital for other reasons on Monday (2/3) and is said to have spent two days in a ward before being isolated and tested for coronavirus.
Prof Joe Harrison, Chief Executive, said: "After two days in the hospital they started showing signs of deterioration and at that point we decided to isolate the patient and test them for coronavirus and unfortunately that came back as positive.
"What we were doing was looking after that patient in a bay on one of our wards and subsequent to that we have ensured all of those patients have been followed up, as have the staff, to ensure that they are tested and appropriately isolated.
"We currently have five patients who are isolated and have been tested and we are awaiting results of those to come back and we have asked nine staff to self-isolate."
MK Hospital is undergoing extensive contact tracing to identify those who may have come in contact with the victim.
Despite various reports, the family says although the 83-year-old tested positive for COVID-19, "it has not been confirmed what his cause of death was".
There have also been reports of the gentleman's family members speaking to the media prior to issuing the statement, however, the family says this is not true.
READ MORE: FORMAL STATEMENT FROM MK HOSPITAL FOLLOWING DEATH OF PATIENT WITH CORONAVIRUS
READ MORE: HEALTH SECRETARY CONFIRMS DEATH OF CORONAVIRUS PATIENT AT MILTON KEYNES HOSPITAL
