On Saturday, as thousands of mostly maskless anti-lockdown protesters lined the streets of Sydney, Adriana Midori Takara was unconscious at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
The 38-year-old Brazilian international student had contracted COVID-19 mere days before from someone she knew, and was later rushed to hospital.
With her health deteriorating, her brother and boyfriend had no other choice but to say their final goodbyes through a hospital window. Her other family members had to say goodbye over Zoom.
"Her brother and her boyfriend got a call from the hospital Saturday afternoon saying 'come quickly, she doesn't have long to live'," her friend, Marlene Coimbra, told The Daily Telegraph.
"She was unconscious the whole time that she was there and on her last day, Saturday, a few blocks away, the anti-vaxxers were protesting."
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Takara died in the early hours of Sunday morning at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, just 10 days after she contracted the highly infectious COVID Delta variant. She had no underlying conditions.
Coimbra told the ABC that Takara's boyfriend and a flatmate had also tested positive to the virus and were immediately isolated.
In the weeks before contracting the virus, Takara tried "numerous" times to get vaccinated, according to The Daily Telegraph.
She reportedly tried on more than one occasion to book an appointment for the jab but was informed by the NSW Health portal that no appointments were available until October.
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