A doctor who cared for the sickest COVID-19 patients at a Baltimore hospital has died from the disease, according to reports.

Dr. Joseph Costa was being hailed as a local health care hero working on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic after his death Saturday.

Costa ran the intensive care unit at Mercy Medical Center in downtown Baltimore and was 56 when he died, Fox 45 Baltimore reported.

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“If I had to be a patient I would want to have a doctor like Joe treat me,” friend Bob Marshall told the station.

Dr. Joseph Costa died Saturday from the coronaviurs. He ran the ICU at a Baltimore hospital. (Mercy Medical Center)

In April, Costa was interviewed by Fox 45 about the importance of wearing face coverings to contain the spread of the virus.

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Dr. Amy Zimmerman told WBAL-TV she has known Costa since they were classmates in medical school.

“This is real,” she said, according to the station. “This was a 56-year-old healthy man. He knew how to be careful. He knew how to take good care of himself, and he still passed away from this disease. This could happen to anybody."

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"Here's somebody who spent his entire life in the intensive care unit, fighting to save people's lives,” she said. “It's a terrible tragedy he lost his life to COVID."