Aide for US Congressman Vern Buchanan succumbs to COVID-19

A congressional staff member died due to COVID-19, US Congressman Vern Buchanan said on Friday (local time).

"Devastated by the death of my longtime staffer Gary Tibbetts who passed away today at Manatee Memorial Hospital from COVID-19," Buchanan tweeted.

"Gary was the consummate professional and a true public servant in every sense of the word," he said.

Buchanan announced on July 15 that Tibbetts was hospitalised. Tibbetts had worked for the congressman for nine years and formerly served as a police officer in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The state of Florida, where Buchanan and Tibbetts lived, now has almost 400,000 coronavirus cases and more than 5,500 virus-related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Sputnik/)

( With inputs from ANI )