Funeral for Crimean-Congo fever victim held today

THE FUNERAL of a married father who died in the UK’s first case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever is due to take place today.

Fazal Ahmad, 38, died in hospital on Saturday – two days after laboratory tests confirmed he had the disease.

He returned to Glasgow from Afghanistan last Tuesday, via a connecting flight from Dubai.

He was initially treated in isolation at Gartnavel General Hospital’s Brownlee Centre in Glasgow, which specialises in infectious disease, before being flown from Scotland to a high-security infectious disease unit at London’s Royal Free Hospital.

His body will now be flown back to Scotland and his funeral is due to take place at Glasgow Central Mosque at 2pm today.

His friend Mohammed Asif, acting chairman of the Scottish Afghan Society, said: “Everybody is quite shocked. He was a nice guy, helpful to everybody and very pleasant. He was young and was a family man who worked hard for his family.”

Mr Asif said Mr Ahmad owned a garage in Glasgow’s east end.