Mourners applaud during funeral procession for doctor who lost life to COVID-19
RAMSBOTTOM, U.K. - Friends and colleagues gathered outside of the Garden City Medical Center in Ramsbottom, United Kingdom after one of their own lost his life to COVID-19.
Dr. Al-Dubbaisi, 59, died on May 3 after dedicating 20 years of his life to medicine and serving the Bury area, according to the BBC.
In the video, a funeral procession for the late Iraqi-born doctor was met by applause as it slowly made its way out.
His daughter Zainab, also a doctor, said her father would “always be in our hearts” and thanked the NHS staff who cared for him.
RELATED: ‘He’s won the battle’: 99-year-old WWII vet and POW camp survivor beats COVID-19
"Dr Saad Al-Dubbaisi was the most loving and kind husband and father," she said. "We are extremely grateful to all the NHS staff who looked after him during his battle with COVID-19.
“Health care workers around the world have been particularly hard-hit by the virus. In the United States, health care workers make up an estimated 10-20 percent of COVID-19 cases, according to the Associated Press.
A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the number of health care professionals who have been infected by COVID-19 is vastly underreported in the United States.
On top of possibly catching the virus, post traumatic stress disorder can develop in both patients and doctors after enduring the stress of fighting the pandemic and being separated from loved ones in order to stop the spread.
PTSD related to COVID-19 is an issue that some hospitals didn't see coming as they struggled to contain the spread as quickly as possible with a severe lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and general knowledge about the novel virus from the outset.
RELATED: Nurses protest at White House to call attention to lack of PPE; honor those who died from COVID-19
The U.K. has surpassed Italy’s COVID-19 death toll with with more than 32,000 deaths as of May 5.
As the coronavirus continues to infect people across Britain in what will likely turn out to be Europe’s worst outbreak, the government has come under criticism from scientists, who say it has neglected the fundamentals of epidemic control.
Hundreds of outbreak experts have questioned the U.K's pandemic response, ridiculing the government's claim of “following the science.”
Epidemic experts warned that Britain's overwhelming focus on testing ignored an equally essential element of outbreak control: the tracking and isolation of contacts of cases.
RELATED: ‘A perfect storm of trauma:’ Expert says COVID-19 could have lasting impact on healthcare workers
That follows an already delayed response to the pandemic. While WHO declared the coronavirus to be a global emergency on January 30, it wasn't until March 5 that Britain made the disease “notifiable,” requiring doctors to report it.
Britain’s department of health said recently it would train 18,000 people to track contacts of cases to monitor the virus' spread, and aimed to have them in place by mid-May. But it has not released details of how the program will work.
Such lack of precision, experts worry, could lead to a devastating second wave of disease.
Storyful and the Associated Press contributed to this report.