Coronavirus: Elderly Wuhan couple recovers, says 16-day hospitalisation is their longest time apart

Love prevails over Covid-19.

Zhangxin Zheng | February 16, 2020, 03:58 PM

An elderly couple in the Hunan province of China, 75-year-old Yuan Cai Hua and 79-year-old Xie Bo You, has recovered from coronavirus (Covid-19).

This was a heartening piece of news was reported by the Chinese state media on Feb. 16.

Covid-19 has claimed over 1,000 lives in China since the onset of the outbreak.

Elderly couple infected & separated for 16 days by Covid-19

Yuan and Xie were residing in Wuhan and they returned to their hometown in Chengxi county of Hunan province to visit relatives over Chinese New Year in late-January.

On Jan. 24, both of them were admitted to a local hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Medicine, and were confirmed to be infected with Covid-19.

Three days later, Xie's condition worsened and had to be warded in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Yuan was also sent to the ICU subsequently on Feb. 2.

Their wards were reportedly nearby but they could only see and talk to each other via video calls with the help of the medical staff.

They also asked the medical staff not to tell each other about their conditions, to avoid causing the other party to worry.

The Chinese state media's video shows a snippet of Xie telling Yuan that he was recovering well.

Screenshot from CCTV-13 video.

Another snippet also shows Yuan saying, "Old man, you must rest well. Take care of yourself, we must both take good care of our health."

Screenshot from CCTV-13 video.

"We'll live for another 20 years"

Both Yuan and Xie were considered severe cases. Fortunately, the couple eventually got better.

Xie was the first to recover from the Covid-19 infection and was discharged from the hospital on Feb. 7.

Yuan was also cleared of Covid-19 on Feb. 13 and was transferred to another hospital in Chengxi county to continue the treatment of other medical conditions.

Exiting from the Hunan hospital, Yuan said, "This is the longest we've been apart in our 50 years of marriage, I want to give him a hug!"

Xie brought a bouquet of flowers to meet Yuan in her ward and gave her a hug.

Screenshot from CCTV-13 video.

Xie said, "These decades have not been easy, we've survived another ordeal and we'll live for another 20 years."

Yuan also added that they will never separate again.

Top photo collage via CCTV-13 video/Weibo