The widow of Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill has suggested his death was caused by complications due to Coronavirus, in the wake of his February 1st death after a tour of Asia in November 2019. Originally believed to have been caused by “respiratory illness,” following Gill’s admission to hospital in January, his death was ultimately listed as being the result of pneumonia and organ failure, according to a report by NME.

Yet it has since emerged that Gill had suffered COVID-19 symptoms, according to his wife, author and equality activist Catherine Mayer. Revealing in a recent post on her website, her husband has been ailed by low oxygen levels, a lack of appetite, and depleted energy levels. Explaining that doctors had asked her husband if he had travelled to Wuhan, the current epidemic’s Ground Zero, Mayer wrote, “Andy thought it unlikely he had come into contact with [coronavirus].”

For added clarification, she outlines that “Gang of Four’s tour had taken the band only to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.” A doctor who had cared for Gill before his demise had this to say, as reported by Mayer: “Once we learned more about Covid-19, I thought there was a real possibility that Andy had been infected by SARS-COV-2​.”

Andy Gill. pic.twitter.com/DHNCz5lAe6

— GANG OF FOUR (@gangof4official) February 1, 2020

Given that Gill had been sick weeks before his admission to hospital, it is uncertain as to whether COVID-19 was the definitive cause of death. Yet, of the uncertainties surrounding her husband’s fatal illness, Mayer had this to say: “We may never find out whether Covid-19 killed Andy, yet I will always know, in indelible detail, how he died. I will always know, intimately, how Covid-19 kills, the suffering it causes and the unbearable stillness that follows.”

In a statement posted by the remaining members of Gang of Four John Sterry, Tobias Humble and Thomas McNeice, which was shared on their Instagram page and is permanently displayed on the band’s official website, “Andy’s final tour in November was the only way he was ever really going to bow out … His uncompromising artistic vision and commitment to the cause meant that he was still listening to mixes for the upcoming record, whilst planning the next tour from his hospital bed.“