Together in birth and death, young Malayali twin brothers Joefred and Ralphred passed away due to COVID-19 24 hours apart. The 24-year-old twins had tested positive for the coronavirus on April 23. After treatment, they tested negative on May 10. However, the infection had spread to their lungs and worsened their condition. Their oxygen level started dropping and they were admitted to the hospital.

On May 13, their parents received a call from the hospital where they were admitted saying that Joefred breathed his last while Ralphred was still battling for his life. 24 hours later, Ralphred too passed away. "When Joefred died, I had a sixth sense that Ralphred would not make it. Simply because they were inseparable," says Raphael, the father of the twins. “They were fit, well-built, 6 ft in height. The hospital staff, the doctors tried our best,” says Dr. Munesh Pandit, who treated them.

Born three minutes apart, the identical brothers, were natives of Mannuthy in Thrissur district of Kerala and have been settled with parents in Meerut for the past several years. Their devastated parents say that the twins were very close to each other and are both engineers. The parents have a third son, the eldest among the siblings, Nelfred Raphael Gregory.