Cairo: Corpses of two women, who had died due to COVID-19, were switched after they were handed over by mistake to each other’s family for burial, a local newspaper reported.
The two passed away in an isolation hospital in Egypt’s western governorate of Mersa Matruh where they were treated of COVID-19 infections.
One of them was a newspaper vendor aged 80 in Mersa Matruh.
The switching incident was discovered after the son of the newspaper seller found out prior to her burial that the corpse handed over to him was not his mother’s, news portal Al Youm Al Saba reported.
The woman’s family was further infuriated after learning that her dead body had been mistakenly given to another family living in the Suez Canal city of Ismalia where she was buried.
The disclosure prompted local authorities to coordinate to set things right and return the dead women to their families for burial in each’s hometown.
Health authorities have referred the hospital’s manager, an aide and a morgue worker to an inquiry over the incident, according to the report.
Egypt so far has confirmed a total of 307,569 coronavirus cases and 17,469 related fatalities.
In recent weeks, the country has expedited mass vaccinations in the run-up to the new academic year due to start on October 9.
Authorities have announced mandatory inoculation for school employees, university students and staff.
