An elderly woman and her three sons have all died after contracting Covid-19, family members have said.

Antoinette Franklin, from New Orleans, Louisiana, and her three sons all died within less than two weeks of each other at the end of March.

Ms Franklin died on March 23 and her sons Herman Franklin Jr, Anthony Franklin Sr and Timothy Franklin all died between 20 March and 30 March, according to NBC News.

Antoinette Franklin was 86, Herman Franklin Jr was 71, Anthony Franklin Sr was 58 and Timothy Franklin was 61.

Jason Melancon, a spokesman for the New Orleans Coroner’s Office confirmed to NBC on Tuesday that they all tested positive for coronavirus, but said that a cause of death had not yet been determined for any of them.

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Anthony Franklim Sr’s son, Anthony Franklin told NBC: “My uncle passed, my grandmother passed, my dad passed, then my other uncle passed.

“It’s literally like seven to eight days apart. It’s horrific.”

The Louisiana Department of Health told NBC that it is unable to comment on individual cases.

Jacqueline Franklin, who had two children with Anthony Franklin Sr, told NBC affiliate WDSU that people need to take coronavirus measures seriously.

“I want the world to know if it happened to the Franklin family it could happen to any family.

“Let’s take this serious. My children have to bury their father, their precious grandmother and their uncles.”

All four of the Franklins were African American and the governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, revealed at his daily press conference on Monday that more than 70 percent of those dying of coronavirus in the state are black.

“That deserves more attention and we’re going to have to dig into that and see what we can do to slow that trend down,” he said.

Louisiana has upwards of 16,824 positive cases of Covid-19 and at least 582 deaths, according to The Louisiana Department of Health.