Maria Branyas, a 113-year-old woman, believed to be the oldest living person in Spain, has beaten the coronavirus. Branyas lives in a retirement home where several others have died of the disease.
Born in the US in 1907, Branyas moved to Spain in a boat during World War I.
Branyas, who battled the disease while being isolated in a room for weeks with just one caretaker in protective gear, told AFP she was lucky to “enjoy good health”.
Branyas has been living at the Santa Maria del Tura care home at Olot for the past 20 years.
A spokesperson for the residence said, “She survived the disease and is doing fine.” She added that Branyas had displayed only mild symptoms.
Branyas has lived through the Spanish flu pandemic that swept the world in 1918-19 as well as Spain's 1936-39 civil war and World War II.
Branyas’s daughter, Rosa Moret, told mediapersons her mother was in “in shape, wanting to talk, to explain, to reflect; she has become herself again”. Branyas has three children, 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Spain has been one of the countries worst hit by coronavirus, with nearly 27,000 COVID-19 deaths confirmed.
People over the age of 70 have been considered to be under high risk of catching the infection, and European nations for some time had not been including fatalities from nursing homes and care homes into their total death tally from COVID-19.
Other centenarians who have survived the disease include a 107-year-old Dutch woman, Cornelia Ras; a 104-year-old American, Bill Lapschies, and Zhang Guangfen, a 103-year-old woman from Wuhan.
