Former US Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain died at age 74 after battling the novel coronavirus, according to a spokesperson on Thursday.

Cain’s website editor, Dan Calabrese, wrote in a post, “We knew when he was first hospitalized with COVID-19 that this was going to be a rough fight”.

“We were relieved to be told that, and passed on the news via Herman’s social media,” the editor explained”, adding, “And yet we also felt real concern about the fact that he never quite seemed to get to the point where the doctors could advance him to the recovery phase.”

Cain, a stage 4 cancer survivor, was diagnosed with the coronavirus last month and admitted to a hospital in Atlanta, southeastern state of Georgia, earlier this month.

“Although he was basically pretty healthy in recent years, he was still in a high-risk group because of his history with cancer,” Calabrese said.

Last month, Cain, who had campaigned for US President Donald Trump, tweeted a photograph of himself at the Tulsa, Oklahoma rally, showing him surrounded by other attendees, none of whom wore a mask.

Several members of the staff who helped prepare the Trump rally, the first of its kind in more than three months during the pandemic, tested positive for the coronavirus, while a spokesperson said there is no way of knowing for sure how or where Cain contracted the disease.

Taking to Twitter, Trump expressed his condolences for Cain and his family on Thursday.

The President wrote, “Herman had an incredible career and was adored by everyone that ever met him, especially me”,

My friend Herman Cain, a Powerful Voice of Freedom and all that is good, passed away this morning. Herman had an incredible career and was adored by everyone that ever met him, especially me. He was a very special man, an American Patriot, and great friend. I just got off…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020

“He was a very special man, an American Patriot, and great friend”, he further tweeted.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll in the US is projected to top 230,822 by November, said the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington.

As of Friday morning, the US accounted for the world’s highest number of infections and fatalities at 4,494,252 and 152,055, according to the Johns Hopkins University.