Husband of woman who died from Covid contracts virus and begs neighbours to lock doors

The husband of the Covid-positive woman who died at home in Sydney’s southwest has now contracted it and warned neighbours to ‘stay away’.

A husband who lost his wife to Covid after the couple’s removalist sons were charged by police for travelling to the state’s west with the virus has himself tested positive.

Sources close to Iraqi-born Adel Shawka say he is sick in bed with the respiratory virus and mourning the loss of his wife Saeeda Akobi Jjou Stu, 54, who was the fifth person to die in the latest NSW outbreak that has forced Sydneysiders into hard lockdown.

“Adel told my husband to close the garage doors and windows because he now has Covid and is coughing too, he’s scared we might get it,” next door neighbour Ma Ta told The Daily Telegraph.

Adel pictured with late wife Saeeda Akobi Jjou Stu.

“He told me he was so very sad that his wife had died, it came rapidly, and that he now has Covid and that me and my husband must not bring food or any gifts to the house.

“He said ‘stay away I have Covid now, please don‘t come to the house, I’m sick,’ he told me.

“The woman was the loveliest lady, she always said ‘hello my friend’ when she saw you in the street, she hardly spoke English. They only came to the country a few years ago.

“Her husband Adel told me on the phone Monday night ‘My wife died of Covid, she got it three days before and was coughing really badly’.

“We all feel for the family and offer our support. It’s a terribly sad situation.

“People in the street want to help but don’t know how.”

The 57-year-old died at her Green Valley home on Monday, just three days after Roni and Ramsin were charged by police after allegedly travelling in western NSW while COVID-19 positive. Picture: 9News

Saeeda Akobi Jjou Stu (centre), the fifth Covid-related death of the current outbreak, poses for a photo flanked by her twin sons Roni and Ramsin, her husband Adel (far left) and son Romel (far right). Picture: Facebook

Adel’s wife woke on Monday struggling to breathe before she died at home in Green Valley.

Two days before her shock death, police charged her removalists twin sons Roni and Ramsin, 27, for travelling to the state’s west with COVID-19.

The Daily Telegraph understands the mother and her sons only found out they had the virus on Friday morning, the day she died. The trio tested for the virus on Thursday night.

Police outside the family’s Green Valley home this week. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said during Tuesday’s media briefing that NSW Health had offered to place the family into a healthcare facility, but they declined.

It is unclear how the family contracted the virus, but Dr Chant said the fact the mother had died three days after testing positive shows how dangerous the Delta variant is.

“You can deteriorate quite quickly with Covid. We’re not dealing with a mild case of the flu,” she said.