Covid 19 coronavirus: Photo of Texas ICU doctor hugging elderly patient on Thanksgiving warming hearts online

Dr Joseph Varon hugs and comforts a patient in the Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) during Thanksgiving at the United Memorial Medical Centre. Photo / Getty Images

A photo showing a US doctor in full PPE gear hugging an elderly patient in a coronavirus intensive care unit in Texas on Thanksgiving Day has been widely shared online.

The photo was taken on Thanksgiving Day on Thursday at the United Memorial Medical Centre in Houston, Texas.

The doctor in the photo is Dr Joseph Varon and that day was his 252nd consecutive day of work.

People all over the world have shared the photo on social media showing the moment the exhausted doctor comforted the sick man, wrapping his arms around him as the elderly man buries his face in Varon's chest.

It's definitely a case of a picture that is worth a thousand words, as internet users have pointed out. The photograph captures the exhaustion and heartbreak but also the compassion and love in those looking after patients in the pandemic, which continues to ravage the US.

Dr. Joseph Varon hugs and comforts a patient in the #COVID19 intensive care unit during #Thanksgiving at the United Memorial Medical Center in #Houston #Texas 📸: Go Nakamura pic.twitter.com/h2Vk18cKUp

— Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews) November 27, 2020

"Thank God for these angels," one person wrote on Twitter.

"Bless both of them," another Twitter user replied.

Varon had been interviewed on CNN the day before, discussing the surge of Covid-19 cases in the hospital in Houston.

"For the last few days, we've had a steady increase in the number of cases," he said.

"There is no question that patients are coming in ... sicker, because they are waiting longer to go to the hospital."

The doctor, who has been working non-stop since the pandemic began, urged his fellow Americans to take the virus seriously.

He fears the country could be headed into its "darkest days".

Today is Dr. Joseph Varon’s 251st straight day of working at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston.

He expects an influx of patients after Thanksgiving. “If we don't do things right, America is going to see the darkest days in modern American medical history,” he says. pic.twitter.com/GsONmI9vVa

— New Day (@NewDay) November 25, 2020

"Unfortunately, my concern for the next six to 12 weeks is that if we don't do things right, America is going to see the darkest days in modern American medical history," he said.

"My hospital is full. I just opened two new wings so that I can accommodate for the next few days because I know that a lot of people are going to get sick after Thanksgiving."

"My nurses in the middle of the day, they will start crying ... When they finish finally getting a patient in, they get a phone call from the ER that there is another patient that is being admitted," he added. "How have I done it? I don't know. I'm running out of fumes."