A 90-year-old coronavirus patient has died in Belgium after selflessly refusing a ventilator and instructing doctors to “keep this for the younger” patients.

Suzanne Hoylaerts from Binkim, near Lubbeek, was admitted to hospital on March 20 when her condition began rapidly deteriorating due to contracting COVID-19.

Currently, there is a global shortage of ventilators as the number of coronavirus cases increase. The equipment is key to help fight the battle against the respiratory disease.

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 later, on March 22.

Speaking to Dutch newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, her distraught daughter Judith said: “I can’t say goodbye to her, and I don’t even have a chance to attend her funeral.”

Judith said her family were baffled as to how their mother could have contracted the virus as she had stayed at home and was complying carefully with lockdown measures.

Belgium has now recorded 705 deaths according to the latest official toll.