Heartbreaking picture shows dying Covid patient being comforted with ‘fake hand’ so they don’t feel alone

Dying Covid patients in Brazil are being comforted with "fake hands" -so they don’t feel all alone in hospital.

A moving social media photo shows a bed-ridden pandemic victim's hand being clasped by two rubber gloves filled with warm water. 

The gloves are used to remind the person what it is like to feel the comforting touch of another human.

The image has been described on social media as a "heartbreaking sign of the times".

Sadiq Bhat posted on Twitter: "The hand of God — nurses trying to comfort isolated patients in a Brazilian Covid isolation ward.

"Two disposable gloves tied, full of hot water, simulating impossible human contact.

"Salute to the front liners and a stark reminder of the grim situation our world is in!"

Marc Goldstein added: "In isolation wards where patients die alone, craving the touch of their loved ones, nurses fill gloves with warm water to simulate that comfort. "

Another wrote: "I am in awe of the human who was compassionate enough to think of this."

A nurse in Brazil had the idea of filling up the latex gloves with warm water from the shower, tied each rubber finger together and placed the patient's hand inside the two rubber hands, to warm it up.

The patient's hands had become cold during intubation, because of difficulties with blood circulation.

However, the gloves also had the added benefit of providing a literal touch of affection.

One Brazilian nurse explained that restrictions on physical contact had made it so that a lot of patients could not receive any visits, which had led to many feeling alone.

Brazil, the second worst-hit nation by COVID-19, registered over 4,000 new deaths due to coronavirus on Thursday, Reuters reported.

More than 3,45,000 people have lost their lives because of COVID-19 in the country.

Hospitals are now at breaking point with people dropping dead as they await treatment amid the rise of super-mutant strains which "threaten" the global fight against the virus.