A 98-YEAR-old great grandfather has recovered from COVID-19 after testing positive for the virus a week ago.

Jack Bowden, who will celebrate his 99th birthday in May, was taken to hospital last Monday after falling ill with a water infection.

While in hospital he was also tested for COVID-19, with the results coming back positive. The former pharmacist was taken to an isolation ward, but returned to his nursing home, in Ivy Bank Road, Bolton, on Friday as his condition significantly improved.

Mark Bowden, Jack’s youngest child who also runs the family optician’s, said: “Myself and my partner were due to cut his hair last week, but we thought that they may well be in lockdown so we phoned the nursing home last Monday.

“They said that they were not in lockdown but my father had been poorly during the night so I told him we would have to put off the haircut. He’s suffered from urine infections over the past 4-5 years, but he’s getting better at managing them.

“The doctor spoke to me and had concerns that he was getting confused. He was admitted to hospital and was treated for a suspected urine infection, they felt he improved a lot over the week.

“The doctors told me that they had tested him for COVID-19. On the Wednesday when my brother rang me to say that his test result was positive, I couldn’t believe it.

“I spoke to my father on the phone and he said: ‘I think I’ve actually got the real thing’. He was moved to an isolation ward on Thursday.

“By the Friday they rang me to say that they were discharging him, they said he had a healthy appetite and he was doing really well.

“I spoke to the him on Monday morning, and he was sat up in his chair, doing really well. The consultant even wants to use him as a case study.”

During the Second World War Mr Bowden was based in Clevedon, Somerset, where he worked on production of Penicillin at the Royal Navy Medical School.

Jack’s granddaughter Nicola Hyams shared her grandad’s recovery online. She said: “Everyone’s so impressed by how he managed. He’s gone back home now and by all accounts he’s doing very well. He’s complaining about having to stay in his bed.”

Jack’s daughter, Joanne Drayson, believes that the medication Jack received for the suspected water infection may have a part to play in his recovery.

She said: “His medication has been shown to have anti-viral properties. I believe that’s why he recovered so quickly.

“For somebody to of his age to go into hospital on the Monday and come out again the same week is remarkable. And now doctor’s have approached him to be a case study.

“So he was a trailblazer back in WWII and he’s clearly a trailblazer now.”