Ermando Armelindo Piveta, 99, a second lieutenant of what used to be the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, is one of the oldest people to recover from Covid-19 in Brazil.

The serviceman, who served in the 2nd World War, was admitted to the Armed Forces Hospital (HFA) in Brasília on April 6 and was discharged this Tuesday afternoon (14).

Piveta showed the first signs of the novel coronavirus on March 23. Until his hospitalization, he was accompanied by doctors from the HFA through distance calls, via telemedicine.

Brazilian 99-year-old former WWII combatant Ermando Armelino Piveta gestures as he leaves the Armed Forces Hospital, after being treated for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and discharged, in Brasilia, Brazil, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino - REUTERS

On the eve of being hospitalized, doctors diagnosed the serviceman with pneumonia. There were eight days of hospitalization - two of them in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). On leaving the hospital, health professionals formed a human corridor to applaud the military's recovery. He responded by saluting.

According to the Army, Piveta is the oldest Brazilian to be discharged from Covid-19.

"Winning this battle for me was greater than winning the war, because this is a plague, as in 1918 [Spanish flu], it is worldwide! I came out of it. For me, it was a tremendous struggle, more than in war. In war you kill or live. Here you have to fight to live, and I came out of this fight winning!", he said when leaving the hospital to the Army's press office.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

Read the article in the original language