116-year-old woman in Turkey recovers from COVID

ANKARA, Turkey — A 116-year-old woman in Turkey has survived COVID-19, according to her son, making her one of the oldest patients to beat the disease.

Ayse Karatay has now been moved to a normal ward, her son Ibrahim tells the Demiroren news agency today.

“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’s getting better,” he says.

French nun Sister Andre recovered from COVID-19 in February, days before her 117th birthday. She is the world’s second-oldest living person.

Ayse, from Emirdag in Afyonkarahisar, western Turkey, was treated in Eskisehir City Hospital after falling ill and testing positive for COVID-19 last month.

Ibrahim says that she had only received one shot of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine before she became sick, adding that she was probably infected by a family member.

Ayse was born during the Ottoman Empire, when exact dates of birth were rarely officially recorded.