Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

This 105-year-old Turkish grandmother has beaten COVID-19 after just five days of treatment.

Centenarian Huriye Baskapan was treated in hospital when she contracted the virus during a trip to the countryside to live with her son because she thought it would be safer.

She left her home in the bustling district of Fatih in the north-western Turkish city of Istanbul to travel to her son’s summer house in Sile District with her daughter and grandchildren.

Shortly after arriving, Baskapan, who felt weak with a lack of appetite shortly before arriving in Sile, went to hospital with other relatives with the same symptoms, and they all tested positive for COVID-19.

Despite her age and not having the best of health, Baskapan defeated the virus after five days and said she felt exactly the same as before.

Baskapan said: “My illness passed early, it did not take long. I do not understand how that can be so, but the doctors are adamant I had the disease.”

Sile State Hospital infectious diseases specialist Dr Emre Ozge, who treated Huriye Baskapan, said: “COVID-19 can be fatal, especially in elderly patients and patients with comorbidities.

“Our patient is 105 years old and has survived very well despite having additional underlying illnesses.

“The fact that the person who looked after her followed our recommendations strictly helped us a lot during the treatment process.”

Dr Emre Ozge pointed out that having good genes was definitely an advantage, but it is also beneficial when people take a strong interest in their own health.

He said that the OAP had looked after herself when she was a young woman, for example never smoking, and that had helped her later in life.

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