ROME, March 26 (Xinhua) -- A 101-year-old man in the coastal Italian city of Rimini was declared cured of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, on Thursday.
Italian news reports said that the man, referred to only as "Mr. P.", is believed to be the oldest person to recover from the disease.
According to Gloria Lisi, vice-mayor of Rimini, Mr. P., who was born in 1919, was admitted to the Rimini hospital -- Ospedale Infermi di Rimini -- a week ago after testing positive for COVID-19.
In a televised interview, Lisi said that as the patient began to recover it became "the story everyone talked about" in the hospital, be them doctors, nurses, administrators, or other patients.
"Everyone saw hope for the future of all of us in the recovery of a person more than 100 years old," Lisi said. "Every day we see the sad stories from these weeks that mechanically tell about a virus that rages and is especially aggressive on the elderly. But he survived. Mr. P. survived."
Lisi went on: "His family brought him home last night, leaving behind a lesson that even at the age of 101, the future is not set," she said.
The story of Mr. P. is a rare positive news item in a country under lockdown. The virus has so far infected more than 80,000 people in Italy, leaving more than 8,000 people dead as of Thursday.
