The beleaguered NHS is overwhelmed Credit: Heathcliff O'Malley/ The Telegraph In pain and fear, they perished. Sedated and ventilated, they slipped away. Gasping, lungs failing, many drew their last breath without a hand to hold or a prayer to console. The victims of Covid-19 suffered alone. They died alone. And we grieved alone. On a national scale. Some names remain carved into our national consciousness, like Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, the 13-year-old boy from London whose life ended in a hospital, surrounded by strangers. His heartrending final hours shocked our Government into compassion, by allowing relatives, in full PPE, to attend the death beds of the frail and frightened.