A 102 years-old cancer survivor who lived through the last great pandemic in 1918 was branded ‘invincible’ after she successfully overcame coronavirus twice.

Angelina Friedman, from Westchester in New York, was hailed by her daughter Joanne Merola after two bouts with a disease known to be highly dangerous to older sufferers. The centenarian was first diagnosed with Covid in April.

She cleared the virus despite previously suffering from cancer, internal bleeding and sepsis. All conditions put Angelina at higher risk of serious side effects from coronavirus, or death.

Angelina’s first bout of Covid came after a trip to hospital for a minor procedure. The virus left her with a fever for several weeks, but she ultimately overcame the illness and tested negative in late April, when scientists believed it was likely people could only get infected with Covid once.

But Joanne was horrified to receive a call in October to say that Angelina had tested positive again.

They thought she might also have the flu.’ Angelina and the other residents of her care home were put in isolation. The elderly woman tested negative twice in November, meaning her body had once again cleared the virus.

Explaining what may have helped her mother survive Covid twice with minimal effects, Joanne said: ‘She’s a mover and a shaker…She’s not the oldest to survive Covid, but she may be the oldest to survive it twice.’