The exchange of the identities of two elderly women with COVID-19 has sparked controversy and outrage. The two users from Lar de São Lázaro, Porto, were admitted to Santo António hospital, but only one of them died.
The body was handed over to the family of the other elderly woman, who cremated it and organized the funeral ceremonies.
The error was only detected after the elderly woman, who had been hospitalized, had returned to her home in the Greater Porto area.
The family of 94-year-old Palmira Rocha are in a state of shock and would like to have her ashes returned to them.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused at least 1,350,275 deaths following more than 56.2 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report by the French news agency AFP.
In Portugal, 3,701 people have died out of 243,009 confirmed cases of infection, according to the latest bulletin from the Directorate General of Health.