A Brazilian who claims to be the world’s oldest man has celebrated his ‘122nd birthday’ a year after beating Covid-19 – and his family say he ‘is still going strong’.   

Andrelino Vieira da Silva, who lives in the city of Aparecida de Goiania in the Brazilian state of Goias, was born on February 3, 1901, according to his ID card. 

The pensioner, who has 13 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, celebrated his latest landmark birthday earlier this month.

If his ID card is to be believed, it would mean he has now turned 122, making him the oldest person in the world. However, Mr de Silva has not tried to verify his age with the Guinness World Records.

The official record is currently held by San Francisco-born Maria Branyas Morera, 115, who was handed the title following the death of French nun Sister André, 118, earlier this year.

Andrelino Vieira da Silva (shown in an undated picture), who lives in the city of Aparecida de Goiania in the Brazilian state of Goias, was born on February 3, 1901, a ccording to his ID card 

Mr da Silva’s granddaughter anaina Lemes de Souza told local media this week: ‘He is still going strong’. 

‘This year we are not going to do anything because some other people in the family are having some problems, so we are not in the mood for the party.’ 

Ms de Souza said the family own three houses on the same plot of land.

She lives in one with her husband and daughter; her mother, father and brother live in another; and her grandfather lives alone in the third.

Mr da Silva was married and had seven children, five of whom are still alive. 

Last year he marked the occasion during an intimate gathering with family as they all recovered from Covid-19.   

The father-of-seven also marked his ‘121st’ with a cake topped with a sign saying ‘O terror do INSS’ (The terror of the INSS).

The message was a joke about his decades-long claim on his old age pension from the INSS, or National Institute of Social Security.

The body, which was set up in 1978 to replace the former National Institute of Social Insurance (INP), are also responsible for collecting contributions for the country’s social security system.

The oldest certified living person in the world is María Branyas Morera, from California, who celebrated her 115th birthday in March, 2022. 

Ms Branyas Morera was born on March, 4, 1907, currently resides in a nursing home in Catalonia.

She was recognised as the world’s oldest living person by the Guinness World Records January, 07, 2023.

She attributed her longevity to ‘an orderly life that is socially very pleasant… a good life, without excesses’. 

She is also one of the oldest survivors of COVID-19, having tested positive in May 2020.

The title of the oldest person to have ever lived belongs to Jeanne Louise Calment whose life spanned 122 years and 164 days, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.