Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
This 101-year-old man who was born in the middle of the Spanish Flu pandemic and survived COVID-19 has now died two weeks after leaving hospital.
Local media report Alberto Luigi Bellucci died at home in the town of Rimini in the north-western Italian region of Emilia-Romagna two weeks after being discharged from hospital. He had turned 101 on 7th April and died on 9th April.
His granddaughter Elisa said: “He was not alone when it happened, he managed to say ‘hi’ to his grandchildren too, a ‘hi’ using his hand in a video call”.
Local media report Bellucci had been weakened by fighting COVID-19 but his granddaughter said he “fought until the end” and when he felt his strength diminishing he called all of his grandchildren with the help of his daughter Loretta.
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The granddaughter said he always stayed positive during his battle with the disease and died next to his wife and daughter.
She added: “We talked with doctors in the last days in order to find out if it was better to have him hospitalised again. We agreed to the option of having him stay at home as being hospitalised again would not have improved his situation and my grandfather would not have been fine.
“It was the death he wanted. With all the drama we are living through, we could not have wished anything better for him.”
Bellucci was born in 1919 in the middle of the Spanish flu pandemic. The story of his recovery from COVID-19 made headlines in Italy and was announced by the Vice-Mayor of Rimini, Gloria Lisi.
Lisi said: “He saw everything; war, hungry, pain, progress, crisis and resurrections.”
Local media report he fled from German troops three times during World War II. He will be buried in a family grave.
According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Italy has registered 156,363 cases of COVID-19, with 19,899 deaths.
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