The hidden pandemic: Children who suffer the loss of parents

While losing one or both parents is traumatic for children in any circumstance, the loss is even more profound in a Covid-19 death. Photo:Unsplash/Chinh Le Duc

Eight-year-old Arif and four-year-old Aida have been asking for their mother. They are living with their Aunt Sarah with their elder sister Alissa,10, and three cousins, and they don’t understand why their mother has not come to take them home.

The last time they saw their mother was when she left for the hospital with their grandmother. The children lost their father to heart attack in April. Though their aunt had explained to them their mother and grandmother had also passed away last month, it’s a reality they can’t quite grasp or accept.