Photo: BBC
A great-grandmother who survived Covid-19 is celebrating her 100th birthday. Beryl Farrall, from Henleaze, Bristol, England, celebrated with her family who gathered outside her home due to social-distancing measures. They brought balloons and a cake to see Beryl take in her 100th birthday, much to her delight.
Beryl caught Covid-19 while in hospital for a broken hip in November, but quickly made a full recovery. Beryl, who says she has no idea why she has lived so long, told BBC news:
"I never thought I'd get to be 100. I've kept going as long as I could and I didn't want to give up."
Her daughter, Thelma, added:
"She's incredible - she was driving until about five years ago. She bakes, reads, knits, sews. In the last year she hasn't been able to do so much but she finished a knitted nativity scene before Christmas. She is made of stern stuff. She fell over and broke her hip once, but was so determined to put the car back in the garage that she got back in the car and drove it in and hobbled [into her house]. We came round later and decided we ought to take her to hospital and she had fractured her hip."
Beryl was formerly a ballet instructor and taught ballroom dancing from her parent's home.
Elderly people have been the most vulnerable to Covid-19, with a large number who contract the disease succumbing to it. As many as one-third of all deaths from Covid-19 in the UK have occurred in care-homes where elderly residents, no longer able to care for themselves, are cared for.
The UK continues to have one of the highest death tolls in the world, with almost 130,000 people being officially registered as dying from Covid-19, however, as many as 150,000 have had Covid-19 mentioned on their death certificate.
The UK has though been able to put out one of the fastest vaccination programs in the world. With almost 99% of all elderly individuals, and 95% of all individuals over the age of 60, having now received their first dose of the two-dose vaccine. This program has seen the number of people dying from Covid-19 dramatically fall over the last few weeks.
[h/t: BBC]
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