Rome: A 101-year-old man in the coastal Italian city of Rimini has recovered from the novel coronavirus, the disease which has infected a total of 80,589 people in the country and has claimed the lives of 8,215 others.

Italian news reports said that the man, referred to only as "Mr P", is believed to be the oldest person to recover from the disease.

According to Gloria Lisi, Vice-Mayor of Rimini, Mr P, who was born in 1919, was admitted to the Rimini hospital -- Ospedale Infermi di Rimini -- a week ago after testing positive for COVID-19.

In a televised interview on Thursday, Lisi said that as the patient began to recover it became "the story everyone talked about" in the hospital.

"Everyone saw hope for the future of all of us in the recovery of a person more than 100 years old," Lisi said.

"Every day we see the sad stories from these weeks that mechanically tell about a virus that rages and is especially aggressive on the elderly. But he survived. Mr. P. survived."

Lisi further said: "His family brought him home last night (Wednesday), leaving behind a lesson that even at the age of 101, the future is not set."

The story of Mr. P. is a rare positive news item in a country under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, Italy has the highest number of fatalities, even surpassing China where the coronavirus originated last December.