The UK’s youngest coronavirus victim has been named as 45-year-old Craig Ruston.
The father-of-two, from Northamptonshire, succumbed to the killer bug in hospital on Monday morning, with his devastated wife Sally writing: "Craig was not ready to go."
The former footwear designer had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2018.
His wife broke news of the death on Mr Ruston’s Facebook page, ‘Me and my MND’, in a post signed by her and his "amazing girls".
She said: "My amazing Craig passed away yesterday [Monday] morning at 6.20am. We are truly heartbroken.
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"His fight with MND was not ready to be over.
"At diagnosis in June 2018 he was given roughly two years to live. He was pushing that back.
"Craig was not ready to go."
She added: "Last Tuesday he was taken unwell and we have since spent the last 6 days in isolation. Craig’s chest infection was confirmed as Covid-19.
"How dare that take Craig who was already facing this (MND), the most vile and evil of diseases.
"Craig's wish upon death was to give his brain to the Oxford Brain Bank.
"It was to be used specifically for MND research and Craig was so keen to do this.
"He'd give anything in the name of research.
"Sadly this can no longer happen.
"How dare this virus take this from Craig."
Mr Ruston is one of the 71 people in the UK who have already died from the virus with that number expected to increase in the coming days and weeks.
Mrs Ruston paid tribute to her husband, who was given two years to live when he was diagnosed in June 2018 but “was pushing that back”.
The post added: "To those of you that knew Craig, before his MND diagnosis, after his diagnosis and to all that follow this his blog, I'm sure you knew or could tell what a wonderfully kind and caring person he was.
"He welcomed everyone. There were no airs and graces with Craig.
"He loved the world. He absorbed the world. He was one of the most intelligent people I know that would absorb information and could somehow explain just about anything."
Mrs Ruston revealed that her husband’s dying wish was to donate his brain to scientific research in a bid to tackle motor neurone disease.
Craig, who was a footwear designer who used to work for Dr Martens, Hunter Boots and Fred Perry, started the blog after he was diagnosed.
His family said that he was a "wonderfully kind and caring" person who welcomed everyone.
The post said: "Craig was not ready to go. Still doing everything in his power to raise awareness and fight the fight for MND."
A post by the Facebook blog ‘Mummy with MND’ added: "This is my good friend Craig, with his family.
"Yes, he had MND but he had a lot of time left with his girls, possibly years. Covid-19 took him yesterday. A family has been devastated.
"Craig adored his wife, Sally.
"His girls were his world and his thoughts were only ever about what his illness would do to them.
"What Craig didn't deserve was for his already limited future to have been taken so suddenly by Covid."
At least 71 people have died in the UK after testing positive for the new strain of coronavirus, as of Tuesday night.
As of 9am on Tuesday, 1,950 patients have tested positive after the testing of 50,442 people.
But the true number of infections is likely far higher because people with mild symptoms are not being tested and many people won't experience symptoms for about five days from the moment they were infected.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government's chief scientific adviser, said it is likely that 55,000 people in Britain are currently infected.
This week, the heartbroken son of 88-year-old coronavirus victim Darrell Blakeley, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, told how he wasn't able to have a proper goodbye with his father.
Mr Blakeley died while being treated in isolation at North Manchester General Hospital on March 13.
He tested positive for Covid-19 while being treated for sepsis.
His family have said he contracted coronavirus at a restaurant after coming into contact with a skier returning from northern Italy.
They have asked Britons to carry out acts of kindness in his memory.
Before Mr Ruston's death, a former police officer from Nailsea, North Somerset, was the youngest victim of the UK's outbreak.
Nick Matthews, 59, was rushed to hospital having suffered breathing difficulties on Thursday last week.
His devastated wife Mary, 55, called him her "soul mate" and her "best friend", adding: "At no point did I realise how serious it was, even when we all had to gown up in the hospital, I just thought it was overcaution – as far as we were concerned we hadn’t been in contact with anyone with coronavirus and no-one in this area had contracted the disease."
Mr Matthews, who retired from policing after suffering a heart attack, had recently returned from a holiday in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.
A British mother died during a holiday in Bali after health officials said she contracted coronavirus.
Kimberley Finlayson, 52, was a mum-of-four and award-winning co-founder of FMC, a dentistry publishing and communications company based in Shenley, Hertfordshire.
Her grieving husband Ken tested negative for Covid-19 and was quarantined as a precaution at the Sanglah hospital, where Mrs Finlayson, who had underlying health conditions, died on March 11.
In a statement, a spokesperson for FMC said: "Kimberley Finlayson, one of the co-founders of FMC, has passed away following a short illness.
"A driving force behind the scenes of the company, Kimberley’s career was defined by a commitment to excellence that helped make FMC the UK’s biggest independent dental publisher.
"She approached the world with an infectious passion, creativity and determination that will forever be written into the fabric of the business.
"She leaves behind an organisation committed to honouring her memory."
Two patients died overnight at at Milton Keynes Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.
Both were in their 90s with underlying health conditions.
