World's oldest person, Maria Branyas Morera, dies at 117

At the age of 117, the world's oldest person, Spaniard Maria Branyas Morera, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday. Her family announced her passing.

Born in the USA but residing in Spain since childhood, she survived two world wars, a civil war, the deadly Spanish flu epidemic of 1919, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic unscathed. She contracted the coronavirus at the age of 113 but recovered within a few days.

Her youngest daughter, 80-year-old Rosa Moret, explained that her mother always enjoyed excellent health and had never been hospitalized.

A team of scientists studied Branyas' case and assessed last fall that she was in remarkably good shape, according to AFP. "She has a completely lucid head. She remembers with impressive clarity episodes of her when she was only four years old, and she does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people. The only thing she has are mobility and hearing problems," one of the researchers, Manel Esteller, told reporters.

The oldest living person in the world is Tomiko Ito from Osaka, Japan, who is 116 years old.

The longest-living person in history was Jeanne Calment from France. She passed away in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.