Age is just a number: Meet India’s strong-willed centenarians who beat Covid-19

Earlier this month, 100-year-old Arjun Govind Naringrekar beat the contagious disease and was discharged from a hospital in Mumbai.

While health experts and scientists reiterate the elderly population’s vulnerability to Covid-19, incidents of strong-willed centenarian in India beating the deadly contagion has amazed the nation. A 100-year-old woman resident of Huvina Hadagali town in Bellary district, Karnataka is one such person who recently recovered from Covid-19 after testing positive for the virus earlier this month.

100-year-old Hallamma from Karnataka beat Covid-19 and described it nothing more than common cold. (ANI)

The elderly lady described the infection nothing more than common cold. Speaking to news agency ANI, Hallamma said, “doctors treated me well. Along with regular food, I was eating an apple a day. The doctors are giving me tablets and injection, and I am healthy now. Covid-19 is like a common cold”.

Earlier this month, 100-year-old Arjun Govind Naringrekar beat the contagious disease and was discharged from a hospital in Mumbai. Just hours before Naringrekar was to get discharged from the hospital, the staff surprised him by celebrating his birthday as he turned 100.

Every time the Kandivali resident was asked about his health by the doctors, the jolly old man would respond saying “all is good” in Marathi. Naringrekar was admitted after he reported low-grade fever and suffered breathlessness along with urinary problems. He developed lung infection but responded well to the treatment and was shortly discharged.

106-year-old Mukhtar Ahmed from central Delhi contracted Covid-19 from his son but successfully beat the disease. Ahmed was getting treated at Delhi’s Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital and was discharged in May after getting admitted in mid-April.

Ahmed, Naringrekar and Hallamma are some of the country’s exceptions where age defied the threat of Covid-19 infection.

Scientists and experts are still trying to learn more about the coronavirus disease and the virus that poses such a severe threat to human health. Multiple studies have linked a patient’s immune response to the severity of Covid-19 symptoms.

A study published earlier this year explored how the immune system responds to the virus. Researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity studied blood samples tested at four different time points from Covid-19 patients.

“We showed that even though Covid-19 is caused by a new virus, in an otherwise healthy person, a robust immune response across different cell types was associated with clinical recovery, similar to what we see in influenza,” Professor Katherine Kedzierska said.

Another study published in the scientific journal ‘Nature’ stated that patient’s immune response, rather than the virus itself, to be largely responsible for death in Covid-19 patients.

“Numerous studies have suggested that the immune system contributes to the organ damage seen in some severe cases of Covid-19,” the paper read. The study was conducted by experts at the University of Edinburgh, UK.