KOLKATA: A 76-year-old Covid-19 patient who also had several other medical conditions, is likely to be among four patients who will be released from Beliaghata ID Hospital on Saturday. The woman is the oldest Covid-19 patient in Bengal to have recovered. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday indicated that nine patients were on their way to recovery and were likely to be discharged very soon.According to treatment protocol, samples must test negative in consecutive tests conducted within 24 hours. For some of these patients, the results of the second confirmatory tests are expected late on Friday.The septuagenarian from Egra had tested Covid-19 positive on March 28, along with a 56-year-old relative. Both women were relatives of the 66-year-old Nayabad Covid-19 positive patient who died at a private hospital two days ago. All three had attended a wedding in mid-March. Doctors said that despite her age, and multiple pre-existing health conditions, the 76-year-old had mild symptoms from the beginning.When those symptoms started subsiding, the doctors decided to send her swab sample for a test. It came back negative for Covid-19 on Thursday. “Her symptoms were not severe and she responded well to the treatment without getting any kind of complications despite the age and co-morbid conditions,” said a doctor at ID Hospital.The 22-year-old London-returned management student from Ballygunge, his family’s 20-year-old domestic help and a 55-year-old Alipore resident are among the four patients likely to be discharged on Saturday. Doctors are also hopeful of discharging more patients soon as many have tested negative for the disease in the first round of testing. “All the Covid-19 patients, including the three children, are doing well. All are recovering uneventfully,” said an official at ID HospitalOn March 31, three persons — a 53-year-old businessman, father of the 22-year-old expected to be released on Saturday, a 23-year-old Habra resident and a 18-year-old Oxford University student — were released. Among them, the 53-year-old had several co-morbid conditions, including diabetes. The recovery of the 76-year-old East Midnapore woman, however, has brought a cheer among doctors striving to treat the high-risk elderly population.Older people are at a higher risk from the coronavirus infection because of their low immunity level and associated co-morbid conditions, like diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney ailment, chronic pulmonary obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and compromised lungs. A few of these patients, now on ventilation, were admitted to hospitals with problems of pneumonia. Incidentally, the 66-year-old Nayabad resident, a former Coal India employee, who died on Wednesday was infected in the same cluster. He was put on anti-retroviral drugs used in the treatment for HIV.“The treatment regime for the elderly is the same as that of adults. But due to lower immunity and pre-existing conditions, treating them becomes trickier. Though all of them might not need ventilation support, we need to put in extra effort as some of them might develop multi-organ failure,” said Susruta Bandyopadhayay, critical care specialist at AMRI Hospitals, Salt Lake.