Maria Branyas: 113-year-old Spanish woman who defeated coronavirus by isolating herself

Spain : 113-year-old woman, believed to be the oldest woman living in Spain, has defeated contagious coronavirus at a retirement home, while several others inside the house lost their lives to the coronavirus.

Maria Branyas, who was born in the US, became infected in April at the Santa Maria del Tura care home in the eastern city of Olot, where she has lived for the past 20 years, and fought the respiratory illness off in isolation in her room.

"She survived the disease and is doing fine," a spokeswoman for the residence told AFP, adding Branyas had only displayed mild symptoms.

"She feels good now, she took a test last week and the result was negative," the spokeswoman said without giving further details.

She was isolated in a room for weeks with only one person in complete protective gears allowed to keep a check on her. Catalan regional television TV3 broadcasted the images of the centenarian.

In the video Branyas can be heard calling the staff at the residence "very kind, very attentive".

Speaking about how she managed to beat the coronavirus, she replied, "the secret is good health."

She was born on March 4, 1907 in San Francisco where her father, who was from northern Spain, worked as a journalist.

Branyas moved to Spain with her family on a boat during World War I and also lived through the Spanish flu pandemic that swept the world in 1918-19 as well as Spain's 1936-39 civil war.

Spain has been one of the worst affected countries in the pandemic, with nearly 27,000 COVID-19 deaths confirmed so far, according to health ministry figures.