"Save it for younger patients. I already had a good life."

Hoylaerts sought medical attention after suffering from a lack of appetite and shortness of breath. She was admitted to hospital where she tested positive for the virus and was placed in isolation, meaning her daughter was unable to visit.

She reportedly told doctors at the hospital: ‘I don’t want to use artificial respiration. Save it for younger patients. I already had a good life.’

Hoylaerts passed away two days after she was hospitalised, on March 22.

Her distraught daughter Judith told Dutch newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws: ‘I can’t say goodbye to her, and I don’t even have a chance to attend her funeral.’