In a remarkable story, a 99-year-old Brazilian World War II veteran was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday after recovering from coronavirus. Second Lieutenant Ermando Piveta was released from the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia with full military honours and had earlier served in Africa as part of the Brazilian artillery during World War II.

The occasion of his release from treatment was held as a celebration with trumpet music and applause by hospital staff and the public that had gathered there. Ermando raised his arms in the air upon being escorted from the hospital on his way out after being admitted as a patient eight days back. On the occasion of the World War II veteran's discharge from the hospital, the army issued a statement saying, "He won another battle, this time against the new coronavirus. He was released from hospital the same day Brazil is commemorating the 75th anniversary of its troops’ successful campaign in the Battle of Montese in Italy during World War II,".

Soon after Brazil entered World War II to lend support to the Allied Powers led predominantly by the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Ermando Piveta's fourth artillery regiment had trained in Dakar in 1942. As of Friday, Brazil has seen the most number of COVID-19 casualties in Latin America with 1,952 deaths to date with over 30,000 people testing positive.