Spanish woman mistakenly believed to have died from Covid returns to care home

"I could not believe it"

A woman in Spain mistakenly believed to have died from Covid-19 has returned to her care home nine days after being "buried". The family of Rogelia Blanco, an 85-year-old woman from Xove, northern Spain, were incorrectly told that the woman had passed away after contracting coronavirus on January 13. Blanco's "funeral" took place the following day. Her family was unable to attend due to restrictions. According to Reuters, the La Voz de Galicia newspaper reports that Blanco returned to her care home nine days later, where her shocked husband was waiting for her. "I could not believe it. I was crying after the death of my wife," he told the publication. The report added that it was in fact a woman who had shared a room with Blanco who had died. According to care home operators, the San Rosendo Foundation, the mix up occurred after both women tested positive for Covid-19 and were transferred to a different care home for treatment. The foundation has since apologised for the confusion, which they described as an "unfortunate incident". "Among the elderly people transferred were two women who were assigned the same room," they said. "An identification error during the process of transfer from Xove to Pereiro de Aguiar led to the death of one of them being certified on 13 January, although the identity was wrongly assigned. "This is a one-off event, among the more than 100 transfers that have been made since last December to Os Gozos."