Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

These images show medics in full protective gear presenting a coronavirus patient with a cake for his 100th birthday before he was told he had beaten the virus.

The heartwarming images were taken in the University Hospital Centre of Sao Joao in the city of Porto in northern Portugal where Luciano Marques da Silva was first taken on 24th March.

His daughter Maria Jose, 61, had called an ambulance for her father as he “at first had a dry cough, then with lots of sputum and he started to get a fever which would not go away”.

She added: “When my husband and I were tested the results were positive for COVID-19. That’s when I realised that my father’s cough must also be related to this.”

The daughter says she “was afraid it was too late” but never showed her father her fear but “just told him that in the hospital it would be easier to take care of him, knowing however that although he is very resistant and a fighter, it is impossible to win every battle.”

Da Silva was taken to the Infectious Diseases ward for treatment and on 31st March he turned 100 years old. In the images, medics at the hospital in full protective geat can be seen presenting him with a cake on his birthday and they also made balloons out of medical gloves to celebrate.

Marlene Teixeira, the chief nurse on the ward, said “it makes me proud to be part of such a dedicated team, that does not fail to provide a highly qualified and humanised service even in the face of the pandemic we are experiencing. Luciano was very moved and grateful for the team’s gesture.”

The 100-year-old has now been given the all-clear from COVID-19 and Teixeira says they hope to discharge him from the hospital “very soon”.

His daughter says he still feels “fragile” but “would be standing up if it weren’t for the oxygen” he was receiving.

When asked what the secret to such an elderly man overcoming the virus, an unnamed doctor on the ward jokingly replied “he was widowed 40 years ago”.

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Portugal has suffered 12,442 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 345 deaths and 184 recoveries.

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