Turkey: 98-year-old woman survives COVID-19

MUGLA, Turkey

An elderly woman from Turkey’s Aegean region has survived COVID-19 despite her chronic diseases.

Behiye Turkler, 98, was admitted to a state hospital in the southwestern Mugla province after she suffered from stomach bleeding, weakness and coughing.

With her testing positive for coronavirus, Turkler was treated at the hospital 17 days, including 10 days at the intensive care unit.

Cem Sahin, a doctor at the hospital, said that they were happy to discharge the elderly woman from the hospital.

Turkler, who has six children and eight grandchildren, is carefully attended by their relatives at home, he added.

Turkey kicked off a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, with healthcare workers the first to be inoculated.

The drive has proceeded to its next step, focusing on the very elderly and those in institutional care.

More than 2.8 million people have been vaccinated across the country so far. There are over 2.54 million coronavirus cases in Turkey and the death toll stand at 26,998, according to latest official figures.