World’s Oldest Man Dies at 112

Bob Weighton, the oldest man in both Britain and the whole world, has died from cancer at the age of 112, his family has confirmed.

Weighton's family stated in a statement that died peacefully in his sleep, from cancer, on the morning of Thursday, May 28, 2020, at his flat in Alton, Hampshire, where he lived independently.

The supercentenarian, a retired English teacher but spent most of his life as a lecturer in marine engineering. He lived through the World Wars, the Spanish flu, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and the invention of the Internet.

Weighton also lived through for the reign of five monarchs as well as witnessed 26 Prime Ministers come and go.

Dumitru Comănescu, a 111-year-old and 202-days Romanian man, inherited his title.

Weighton, from Alton, Hampshire, was born on March 29, 1908, on the same day as the UK’s oldest woman, Joan Hocquard, who was followed by the second-oldest woman, Violet Davies-Evans, was born on the following day.

[caption id="attachment_129145" align="aligncenter" width="410"] Bob Weighton[/caption]

He is survived by three children, 10 grandchildren, and 25 great-grandchildren.

In February, he was named the world’s oldest man, after Chitetsu Watanabe, from Japan, passed away at the age of 112, days from claiming his Guinness World Record certificate.

Weighton celebrated his final birthday on March 29, which was held behind closed doors after the imposition of the coronavirus lockdown, which he saw the crisis as the “world is in a bit of a mess”.

[caption id="attachment_129147" align="aligncenter" width="634"] Bob Weighton[/caption]

The top 10 verified oldest people

1. Jeanne Calment of France, aged 122 years, 164 days.

2. Sarah Knauss, from the United States, aged 119 years, 97 days.

3. Nabi Tajima of Japan, aged 117 years, 260 days.

4. Lucy Hannah, from the United States, aged 117 years, 248 days.

5. Marie-Louise Meilleur, from Canada, aged 117 years, 230 days

6. Violet Brown, from Jamaica, aged 117 years, 189 days.

7. Kane Tanaka of Japan, aged 117 years, 148 days.

8. Emma Morano, from Italy, aged 117 years, 137 days.

9. Chiyo Miyako of Japan, aged 117 years, 81 days.

10. Misao Okawa of Japan, aged 117 years, 27 days.

It is worth mentioning that the novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has infected more than one million people and killed over 234,139 worldwide. It also hit several celebrities and top political figures around the world.

The virus is a new member of the Coronaviruses group, which was never identified in humans. The viruses’ family also includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), which cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Humans and animals such as mammals and birds can be affected by the disease.

The name coronavirus is derived from the Latin corona, meaning “crown” or “halo”.

On February 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease caused by the new coronavirus is Covid-19, taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”.

In December 2019, an outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus, which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was later renamed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 800,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

However, it announced the novel COVID-19 is still “controllable”.

“We are very concerned to achieve the alarming levels of the outbreak and its severity, as well as the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva.

“Now, COVID-19 can be categorized as a pandemic… we have never seen a pandemic spread due to the coronavirus,” Adhanom added.

“Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change the assessment of the threat posed by the Coronavirus,” the WHO director-general stressed.

Transmission of viruses between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.

Coronavirus can also be transmitted by coming into contact with something an infected person has touched and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.

It is known that older people appear to be more vulnerable to the effects of the emerging virus.

The virus caused complete paralysis in all activities and events with large gatherings worldwide due to concerns over the spread of the virus.

People across the globe partake in self-isolation for 14 days as an effective precautionary measure to protect those around them and themselves from contracting COVID-19.