An elderly COVID-19 victim, presumed to have been dead (and buried) for 20 days, has been located alive in the same Portuguese hospital where he was being treated.

The 92-year-old, who had been hospitalized for about two months due to respiratory problems, was infected with COVID-19 while in the hospital the Jornal de Noticias reported this week. His son told the newspaper that the hospital had called his sister three weeks ago to say the man had died.

"I asked to see the body to identify it, but they didn't allow it," the son recalled. Due to health protocols, the body of the deceased was immediately placed in a coffin and the family organized the funeral.

Nearly three weeks later, the hospital realized that the buried body was actually another person and issued an apology to both families. The body has now to be extracted for another funeral.

The son is happy to have his dad back, and also forgiving about the mix-up: "I know that at the moment the doctors are working hard, but I hope that this event will serve as a lesson for them to be more careful in the future." No word on whether the family of the real victim is quite so understanding.