The husband of a Slough councillor who died from coronavirus is warning people to take the virus seriously ahead of a second national lockdown.

Cllr Shabnum Sadiq sadly died in April after contracting COVID-19, with husband Khizran saying she “never came off the ventilator.”

The Slough Borough councillor and Mr Sadiq, 41, left the UK almost two weeks before the lockdown in March, for a family wedding in Pakistan.

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He said: “We were joking about it in the airport. There was a sign saying COVID-19 and she was telling me it was another name for coronavirus.

“Everything about it was new and was happening in other countries. We were just learning about it really.

“But within just days of us being there she was breathless and ill and after going to a local hospital she was moved to a main one.

ALSO READ: Tributes to Slough Cllr Shabnum Sadiq

“The last time I spoke to her was on the phone on the morning of 11 March when she told me she was bored and could I bring her laptop in that afternoon, then by time I got to the hospital that afternoon she was in a critical condition on a ventilator.

“She was on a ventilator for 25 days – she never came off.”

Mr Sadiq also contracted the virus and was put in a room next to his wife. He said he was aware of all the medical procedures and interventions she had before she died and could do “nothing but watch”.

His comments come as England braces itself for a second national lockdown, which means all restaurants, pubs and other non-essential businesses will have to close, households will not be able to mix except for support and childcare bubbles, and gathering outside in small groups will be banned from Thursday until December 2.

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Mr Sadiq said the family is only just coming to terms with Shabnum’s death and is now warning residents to take the virus seriously.

He added: “For the first two months we just didn’t know what to do. We are only now just getting there.”

“In just four short weeks I lost my wife, my children lost their mother, and our lives have been changed forever all because of COVID-19.

“This is a real illness with serious consequences and the people of Slough need to take it seriously.”

Cllr Sadiq was elected to Wexham Lea ward in May 2016 and served on various council committees, and was lead member for education and children’s services for a while.

She leaves behind her husband, 21-year-old daughter and 14-year-old quadruplets.