Chennai, Mar 27 (IANS): Ravichandran Ashwin said that the story of a 101-year-old man in Italy recovering from coronavirus is a "great boost to human race."

Italian news reports said that the man, referred to only as "Mr P", is believed to be the oldest person to recover from the disease.

"Resolve shown in adversity great boost to our human race," Ashwin tweeted.

According to Gloria Lisi, Vice-Mayor of Rimini, Mr P, who was born in 1919, was admitted to the Rimini hospital -- Ospedale Infermi di Rimini -- a week ago after testing positive for COVID-19.

In a televised interview on Thursday, Lisi said that as the patient began to recover it became "the story everyone talked about" in the hospital.

Ashwin has been raising awareness of the virus and the importance of social distancing. He changed the name of his Twitter handle to "lets stay indoors India."

He earlier tweeted a pic of him famously mankading Jos Buttler during the 2019 Indian Premier League. "Hahaha, somebody sent me this and told me it's exactly been 1 year since this run out happened. As the nation goes into a lockdown, this is a good reminder to my citizens. Don't wander out. Stay inside, stay safe! #21DayLockdown (sic.)" he said in the tweet.