A 100-year-old man has recovered from coronavirus

In some good news among the bleak updates surrounding coronavirus, a 100-year-old man has recovered from the illness.

The patient also suffered from Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure and heart failure, but managed to survive thanks to being treated with blood donated by former patients, Chinese media reports.

Known just by his surname Wang, the Chinese citizen was among more than 80 patients discharged from Hubei Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in Wuhan last Saturday.

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Cai Chen, a doctor from the hospital, told the media: “Considering the patient was very old and he had a relatively weak immune system, we decided to use recovered coronavirus patient’s blood plasma as the main treatment”.

Chinese hospitals have been trialling the treatment, which scientists believe works by infusing sick people with disease-fighting proteins from recovered patients –  they then use these antibodies like they were their own, instead of making them from scratch.

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Zeng Li, director of the hospital’s infection department, told the press that the man was unconscious when he arrived, adding: “The fact that we used anti-virus blood serum [from recovered patients] to cure the centenarian is going to boost the confidence of other patients”.

Mr Wang’s condition gradually improved from the two-week treatment process, administered by a team of medical experts.