Coronavirus: 100-year-old man ‘recovers from disease’

Centenarian is oldest person to have returned to health after suffering disease, according to state media

A 100-year-old man has been discharged from hospital in China after recovering from coronavirus, according to state media.

The centenarian is the oldest person to have returned to health after being diagnosed with the disease, reported Xinhua news agency.

He was among more than 80 Covid-19 patients discharged on Saturday from a wing of Hubei Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak began.

The man, who reportedly had underlying health conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension and heart failure, was admitted to hospital on 24 February.

According to state-run Xinhua, he received a range of treatments from military doctors.

Doctors have warned the elderly and people with underlying health conditions are at increased risk of severe coronavirus infection.

But England’s chief medical officer has sought to reassure the public that “the great majority” of older patients will survive.

Professor Chris Whitty said last week: “Even in the most vulnerable, oldest groups, in a very stressed health service – which Hubei was at the point when most of the data came out – the great majority of people who caught this virus – and not everybody will – survived it. The great majority, over 90 per cent.

“I think it’s easy to get a perception that if you are older and you get this virus then you’re a goner – absolutely not, the great majority of people will recover from this virus, even if they are in their 80s.”