Family celebrates as 101-year-old grandpa becomes oldest to recover from coronavirus in UK

A 101-year-old grandfather has become the oldest person in the the United Kingdom (UK) to beat coronavirus after a two-week battle with the deadly illness.

Mail Online reported that Keith Watson, who was being treated at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Worcestershire, was discharged earlier today.

It comes as the latest figures show there are currently 65,077 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK with a death toll of 7,978.

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust shared a picture on Facebook which showed Keith giving a thumbs up surrounded by smiling nurses.

Keith Watson, who was being treated at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Worcestershire, was discharged earlier today

Elderly people are among the worst affected by the outbreak with 27 per cent of over-80s needing hospital treatment. Pictured: Alexandra Hospital, Redditch

It was posted alongside the caption: ‘This is Keith, he’s 101 years old.

‘He went home today after beating coronavirus.

‘Well done to everyone on Ward 12 at the Alexandra Hospital for looking after Keith so well for the past two weeks!’

Keith’s grandson, Benjamin Watson, later shared the post to his own social media and said: ‘My wonderful Grandad at 101 contracting coronavirus and beating it. What an absolute trooper!

‘Thank you to everyone at the NHS. Can’t wait to see him when this is all over x’.

Rita Reynolds, 99, from the Isle of Man, was previously believed to be the UK’s oldest person to recover from Covid-19.

The oldest patients across the globe who have survived the coronavirus

• Cornelia Ras: aged 107, the Netherlands

• Bill Lapschies: aged 104, America

• Zhang Guangfen: aged 103, China

• Italica Grondona: aged 102, Italy

• Rita Reynolds: aged 99, Isle of Man, UK

• Unknown woman: aged 96, South Korea

Luke Serrell, a volunteer ambulance driver who took Keith home, told The Sun: ‘I volunteered to transport positive patients in our ambulance as there is a lot that are beating the virus and want to go home.’

‘I feel honoured to be doing this as there is so much going on and it is great seeing the survivors of Covid-19 especially Keith as he is 101 and he is such a great bloke to chat to.

‘It is scary times but I’m proud to be on the front line helping.’

It comes as it was also today announced that a 107-year old Dutch woman had also recovered from the virus.

Cornelia Ras fell ill on March 17, the day after her 107th birthday, Dutch newspaper AD reported, after attending a church service with other residents of her nursing home on Goeree-Overflakkee, an island in the southwest of the country.

Cornelia Ras pictured celebrating her 107th birthday, one day before she fell ill with coronavirus on March 17

Ras was told by her doctors on Monday that she had beaten the infection

She and 40 others at the service were subsequently diagnosed as carrying the virus.

Twelve of that group have since died, but Ras was told by her doctors on Monday that she had beaten the infection.

‘We did not expect her to survive this’, her niece Maaike de Groot told the newspaper.

‘She takes no medicines, still walks well and gets down on her knees every night to thank the Lord. From the looks of it, she will be able to continue to do so.’

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by 1,213 on Thursday to 21,762, health authorities said, with 148 new deaths.

The country’s death toll stands at 2,396, the Netherlands’ Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.

Prior to Ras, the oldest widely documented coronavirus survivor was Bill Lapschies, a 104-year-old American who also survived World War II and the Spanish Flu pandemic.

Bill Lapschies, 104, seen here wearing a protective mask outside the home on his birthday

Lapschies, who was born in Salem in 1916, first displayed symptoms commonly associated with the deadly virus, on March 5.

He was quickly put into isolation at the Edward C Allworth Veterans’ Home in Lebanon, Oregon, where he currently resides.

In China, Zhang Guangfen, a 103-year-old grandmother, recovered from Covid-19 following a six-day treatment in Wuhan.

A 103-year-old unnamed woman in Iran also recovered after being hospitalized in the central city of Semnan for about a week.

Italica Grondona, a 102-year-old woman, recovered in the San Martino hospital in Genoa, Italy. She was nicknamed ‘Highlander’ – the immortal, after spending more than 20 days in hospital.

And a 96-year-old woman in South Korea became the oldest patient in the country to fully recover from coronavirus. The woman, from Cheongdo County close to the southern city of Daegu, made a full recovery after being treated at the Pohang public clinic.