Italy: 101-year-old influenza survivor beats COVID-19

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - A 101-year-old Italian man who survived the Spanish flu pandemic in the 1910s has successfully recovered from the deadly coronavirus.

The man, identified only as Mr. P, was born in the town of Rimini on the northwestern coast of the Adriatic Sea in 1919, growing up between the two world wars.

Last week, Mr. P went to a hospital in Rimini after testing positive for COVID-19.

It was not the first time that Mr. P encountered a pandemic. He is a survivor of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which claimed the lives of 600,000 Italians.

According to Gloria Lisi, the Vice Mayor of Rimini, medical staff at the hospital were hopeless for the man, since people older than 65 tend to experience more severe symptoms of COVID-19.

After he started recovering from the illness, he was discharged from the hospital.

Mr. P brought a light of hope to other coronavirus patients, and his survival served to remind that even centenarians could defeat the disease.

On Saturday, Italy reported 889 new deaths from coronavirus, bringing the total number of victims to 10,023, the highest in the world.

The number of confirmed cases in the country has reached nearly 92,500 and while over 12,300 people have recovered from COVID-19.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 177 countries and territories, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows over 678,700 cases have been reported worldwide since last December, with the death toll almost 31,700 and over 145,600 recoveries.