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The Manhattan ER doctor who killed herself after serving on the front lines of the coronavirus battle was especially distraught because she’d gotten the contagion and eventually returned to work — only to be told to go back home, a close pal told The Post.

“She got the virus and came back to work too soon — they said to her she wasn’t well enough to go back to work. It broke her,” the friend said of Dr. Lorna Breen, who had been medical director of the emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

Breen, 49, took her own life Sunday while staying with family in Charlottesville, Va.

Asked if Breen was the type of person to be depressed, The Post source, an emergency room nurse at the hospital, replied, “No.

“She cracked under the stress,” of dealing with the pandemic day after day, the pal said.

“The staff is hysterical and feels demoralized. They can’t believe it. She was a leader and had a dynamic personality … a great person, colleague and friend,” her co-worker said.

“The stress here is making everyone crazy.”

Meanwhile, other friends and colleagues struggled to make sense of Breen’s passing

“Will miss you forever, Lorna,” Dr. Rich Weiss wrote on Facebook. “You were a true friend and a compassionate warrior. Safe travels.”

Paris Lovett, who is an emergency physician, hailed her as a “great” doctor, sharing a photo of himself with a beaming Breen.

“Lorna Breen – a great emergency physician, great person and great friend. I will miss you so much,” he wrote on Facebook.

Responding to the touching tribute, Dr. Liz Edelstein responded, saying, “She was a class act top human gem. And that smile, that always made you so happy to see her.”

Lovett replied, “Couldn’t agree more. It’s unfathomable.”

Nina Ng, an assistant director of nursing at Northwell Health, shared a photo of Breen laughing with a group around a table.

“Remembering Dr. Lorna Breen. R.I.P.,” she wrote on Facebook.

NewYork-Presbyterian did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Additional reporting by Kate Sheehy