Two people at each end of the age spectrum have become beacons of hope in Northern Italy, ground-zero for the coronavirus in Europe.
Leonardo, a six-month-old baby and Italica Grondona, a 102-year-old woman have both survived the virus after each faced a long battle in hospital.
Little Leonardo has recently returned home in the municipality of Corbetta in the northern Italian region of Lombardy after winning a 50-day battle against COVID-19.
Local mayor Marco Ballarini called baby Leonardo ‘the wonderful face of hope’ and thanked the cute tot for helping to lift the spirits in the region.
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The baby’s mother told local media: ‘I was worried a lot, especially at night. I do not wish that on any mother.’
She said that she knew her baby was ill when he had a fever and his heart rate quickened, adding that her husband’s work colleague had been diagnosed with the virus.
The mother said that little Leonardo was well treated by healthcare professionals.
The 102-year-old ‘Immortal’
Meanwhile, A 102-year-old Italian woman in Genoa, also in Northern Italy, has made a miraculous recovery after catching the coronavirus and spending 20 days in hospital.
Earlier this month, Italica Grondona came down with symptoms of the deadly virus and was admitted to hospital with mild heart failure but she has since been discharged with doctors saying ‘the virus surrendered in front of her.’
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Records from Italy’s National Health institute show that the average age of someone to die after testing positive for the coronavirus is 78, making Grondona’s case particularly exceptional.
The doctors were so impressed with the case that they decided to study it deeper, although Sicbaldi admitted that the doctor’s themselves did ‘very little’ to cure Grondona.
Given Grondona’s old-age, doctors said that it was possible she was the only patient they had treated to have also survived the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, estimated to have killed around 50 million people, after they undertook additional tests on her.
