The dreadful second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has been threatening the entire country with a pacing number of new cases and deaths. As the sequel of surging infections and fatalities, India is inching closer to becoming the most affected country in the world. While the invisible menace is separating and killing the loved ones, a family in Uttar Pradesh has braced up incessant grief by losing their two sons and what more heartbreaking is they were identical twins and they had succumbed days after celebrating their 24th birthday. 

Twins Joefred Varghese Gregory and Ralfred George Gregory were born on April 23, 1997. The identical twin had celebrated their 24th birthday last month and a day after their birthday, they had tested positive for the COVID-19 viral infection. Initially, the brothers were treated at home and after their health deteriorated, they were taken to a private hospital in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, on May 1. 

However, despite the efforts to save them, the brothers had passed away due to the complications of the COVID-19 viral infection last week, one after the other. The loss of the brothers had devasted the family. The development had distressed the dears and nears of the deceased brothers and several people had paid tributes to the deceased twins and expressed condolences to the family members. 

According to PTI, the brothers' father Gregory Raymond Rafael said, "We have struggled a lot, they wanted to give us a better life. The two were planning to move from Hyderabad to Korea and then to Germany. I don't know why God gave us this punishment." He added, "Both of them had stepped into the world simultaneously. Both of them also did computer engineering and got a job in Hyderabad. Didn't know that both of them would be sick together and would leave this world together."

Their parents Gregory Raymond and Soja Raphael are teachers in Meerut and they had admitted their sons at Anand Hospital in the city. The brothers were born three minutes apart and they did most things together. Both brothers were 6 feet tall and they went to college together and completed their B.Tech in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Joefred worked in Accenture while Ralphred worked with Hyundai Mubis company. 

They had been planning to move abroad and Joefred had been staying in Meerut and working from home while Ralphred had come on leave from his Hyderabad office due to an arm injury. The twins have an older brother and they had developed a fever on April 24, a day after celebrating their 24th birthday. On May 1, they were admitted to the hospital, and even though they recovered from the pandemic, they had passed away due to the complications. 

According to reports, Joefred Varghese Gregory had breathed his last on May 13 and after a few hours, his brother Ralfred George Gregory had succumbed to the complications. Their father said, "On May 10, both had tested negative for the viral infection. Three days later, our world came crashing. When Joefred died, I had a sixth sense that Ralphred would not make it. Simply because they were inseparable." "Our family is broken. Covid took away my sons who had never harmed anyone in their entire lives", their father Raphael added.