Casilda Benegas

	Casilda Benegas
	; Benegas on her 113th birthday.
Birth:	8 April 1907; Trinidad, Itapua, Paraguay
Age:	114 years, 68 days
Country:	PARARG
	Validated

Casilda Ramona Benegas de Gallego (born 8 April 1907) is a Paraguayan-born Argentinian supercentenarian whose age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She is the first validated supercentenarian born in Paraguay, and the oldest validated person ever in Argentina.

In December 2020, Benegas recovered COVID-19 at the age of 113 years and 8 months; this was the oldest age at which anyone is confirmed to have contracted the disease and survived, until who Lucile Randon survived the disease in January 2021. She was the second-oldest living survivor of COVID-19, behind Maria Branyas Morera who survived the disease in April 2020, shortly after her 113th birthday.

Biography

Casilda Benegas was born on 8 April 1907 in Trinidad, Itapua, Paraguay. Her parents were Patricio Benegas and Asuncion Ojeda. She was baptized in Santisima Trinidad, Trinidad. She married Benigno Gallego Cuenya in Santisima Trinidad. On 6 April 1945, she moved to Argentina.

In 2000, at the age of 93, she emigrated to Spain but 13 years later she returned to Mar del Plata to settle permanently.

Casilda Benegas currently lives in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. On 13 May 2020, she surpassed the age of Virginia Moyano (1904–2017) to become the oldest validated person ever to live in Argentina.

COVID-19 Survival

On 10 December 2020, Benegas tested positive for COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic, but was asymptomatic. By 23 December 2020, she had successfully recovered, making her the oldest known survivor of the disease, until Lucile Randon survived the disease in January 2021. However, she was not the oldest known living survivor, as Maria Branyas Morera of Spain, who recovered from COVID-19 in April 2020, is five weeks older.

On 30 March 2021, aged 113, Benegas got vaccinated against COVID-19, making her one of the oldest people to receive the vaccine.