Covid 19 coronavirus: James Bond star Rory Kinnear loses sister to disease

Rory Kinnear played Bill Tanner in the Bond films Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre and No Time To Die. Photo / YouTube

James Bond star Rory Kinnear has revealed his disabled sister Karina has died from coronavirus.

Due to lockdown restrictions, the actor and his family were forced to say goodbye to her on FaceTime, while they told her they loved her and played her favourite song.

"A nurse, Patricia, held up Karina's iPad while my mum, via FaceTime on her mobile, narrated a favourite story of hers for the last time and thanked her for the happiness she had brought us all," Kinnear wrote in an essay for the Guardian.

"Mum then held up her home phone to her mobile, where my other sister, Kirsty, at hers, was able to say how much she loved her and would miss her. And then Kirsty held up her husband's phone to hers where I, on loudspeaker, from my house, played Karina one of her favourite songs and told her how proud I was to have been her brother and what gratitude I felt for what she had taught me about life."

Kinnear explained that Karina, who was paralysed from the waist down and suffered severe brain damage at birth, tested positive for coronavirus early last week. The disease "quickly attacked her stomach, her lungs and her kidneys".

He continued: "Her lung capacity was so diminished that we knew, given the reports of its effects, that it was likely to prove incredibly dangerous for her. Her conditions weren't just 'underlying', they were life-defining, for her and for us, even if she remained unaware of their severity. But Karina had defied predictions her entire life."

He then paid tribute to her bravery and zest for life.

"Karina was ebullient, brave and wry, with a passion for noise, laughter, family and chaos.

"And those that engaged with her, knew her, loved her, were rewarded beyond their imagination by her friendship and trust. They grew to learn, inexorably and unalterably, that our spirits exist far more tangibly than our abilities. What a lesson. What an inspiration."