Turkey: 116-year-old Ayse Karatay becomes one of the world's oldest women to beat COVID-19

A 116-year-old woman named Ayse Karatay from Turkey has become one of the oldest woman to beat COVID-19 in the world. Karatay was moved from the intensive care unit (ICU) to the general ward at a City Hospital in Eskisehir, western Turkey, her son Ibrahim told a Turkish news agency Demiroren.

According to her son, Ayse Karatay was admitted to the hospital after she displayed symptoms of the virus last month. "My mother fell ill at the age of 116 and stayed in the intensive care unit for three weeks...Her health is very good now and she is getting better," AP quoted Ibrahim as saying. Ayse had received only one shot of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine before she was infected by the virus, he informed. The doctors suspected that the elderly woman caught the virus from one of their family members.

Ayse is a resident of Emirdag in Afyonkarahisar in western Turkey. She was treated at a City Hospital in eastern Turkey to ensure a speedy recovery. As per AP, Karatay was born during the Ottoman Empire, when exact dates of birth were rarely officially recorded. She set the record of being the oldest woman to survive COVID-19, pushing French nun Sister Andre to the second position.

Meanwhile, on 5 September, 2021, the number of deaths reported globally this week was around 67,000. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) bulletin, the tally is similar to last week. The global COVID-19 tally has reached nearly 216 million and the cumulative number of deaths stands around 4.5 million.

Another oldest person who survived COVID-19

French nun Sister Andre tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021. On being tested, Sister Andre was shifted to Sainte Catherine Labouré retirement home in Toulon, Southern France. She recovered from the disease just days before her 117th birthday. As per BBC, spokesperson of the retirement home David Tabella, told Var Martin newspaper that Sister Andre was not cornered by the disease, instead, she was "concerned about other residents."

According to the Gerontology Research Group's (GRG) World Supercentenarian Rankings, Sister Andre is the second oldest person in the world and first in Europe. She was born in 1904 during the Russian-Japanese War. She was born as Lucile Randon and took the name Sister Andre in 1944.

(With inputs from AP)

(Image: AP/PIXABAY)