A 113-year-old woman, thought to be the oldest in Spain, has said she feels fine after surviving a brush with coronavirus.
Video footage of Maria Branyas, who was born on March 4 1907, shows the super-centenarian speaking to the director of the care home where she lives in Olot, Catalonia.
“In terms of my health I am fine, with the same minor annoyances that anyone can have,” said Branyas in the video. It was recorded Monday, a spokeswoman for the care home told CNN.
Branyas recovered after a mild case of Covid-19. Her battle started shortly after her family visited her on March 4 to celebrate her 113th birthday, the spokeswoman said.
The family has not been able to visit in person since then. Branyas has lived for 18 years in her own private room at the Santa Maria del Tura nursing home, which is run by the Institute of the Order of San Jose of Gerona, affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, the spokeswoman said.
Branyas was born in San Francisco in the United States, where her father worked as a journalist, reports the AFP news agency.
Over the course of her long life she has survived two world wars as well as the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed more than 50 million people around the world.
Although Branyas recovered from coronavirus, two residents of the same home died of it. The situation at the care home has since improved, said the spokeswoman.
Spain’s state of emergency, in effect since March 14, has strict confinement measures that remain in place. But with the infection and death rates now declining, the government has lifted some lockdown measures in certain parts of the country, on what it says will be a gradual reopening of activity.
But the initial lifting of these restrictions did not apply to Olot, where Branyas lives.
