A 97-year-old Brazilian woman apparently didn’t get the memo that the coronavirus is especially dangerous among the elderly.
Gina Dal Colleto, who was hospitalized with COVID-19 on April 1, made a triumphant exit Sunday from Sao Paulo’s Vila Nova Star hospital – becoming the oldest person in the hard-hit country to survive the illness, Reuters reported.
The sole survivor of an Italian family including 11 siblings, the nonagenarian – who has six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren — lived alone in the port city of Santos, Rede D’Or São Luiz, which controls the hospital, said in a statement.
“Even with almost a century of life, Gina has a very active routine and enjoys walking, shopping and cooking,” the statement said, adding that she had been put on oxygen while in intensive care.
Brazil has recorded 22,169 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,223 deaths as of Sunday, according to the news outlet.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has called the deadly bug a “little cold,” has resented social-distancing measures imposed by state governors and even his own health officials – and called for the economy to be restarted.
But quarantined Brazilians have met his stance by banging pots and pans in protest at his handling of the outbreak.