Hansel “Hanny” Leon, the first casualty of the COVID-19 in Trinidad, was well known in the steelband fraternity as an ‘Iron Man”.

“ A lover of the iron on Carnival Monday & Tuesday and on Labor Day in Brooklyn. Hanny as he is lovingly called was a man of moral standards and would always try to help in whatever circumstances he felt you needed his assistance,” his friend Dwight Noel wrote in a Facebook Post after news spread on Wednesday evening that Leon  died at the San Fernando General Hospital.

“Always well dressed and commanded an audience wherever he went with the iron, his instrument of riddim. I has the opportunity to share my experiences with him beating iron at a fete and he recognized my talent, thus joining in the ranks as an accomplished RIDDIM player,” Noel wrote.

I could comfortably say that he would have wanted his departure with Steelband and RIDDIMS, which he would have gotten, but due to this situation…” Noel  stated , knowing that public gatherings are limited to groups of ten.

Leon arrived in Trinidad in early February and was not presented as a Coronavirus case until  in more than a month later in mid-March. The World Health Organization says the incubation period for the Coronavirus is 14 days.

The Ministry of Heath did not give any details about the case except to announce his death.