The family of a 74-year-old woman who had been declared dead due to coronavirus has learnt that she is still alive and was just in a coma.

Alba Maruri, from Guayaquil in Ecuador, had been admitted to an intensive care unit on March 27, 2020 after she was suspected of having Covid-19.

Doctors had initially told the family that Mauri died on March 27 shortly after being admitted to a hospital in Guayaquil with a high fever and difficulty breathing, Ecuadorian daily El Comercio reported.

The family was shown a corpse at the hospital morgue, but they had to keep their distance due to fears the virus could spread, according to the BBC.

The body was later taken away and cremated at the family’s expense, and the family received the ashes about a week later.

But on Thursday, Ms Maruri regained consciousness and told the surprised doctors her name. She provided them with her home phone number and asked for her sister, Aura, to pick her up.

It’s then that the doctors realized the case of mistaken identity and informed her family.

On Friday, the family were shocked when health workers came to their home to tell them Ms Maruri was still alive and making a recovery.

“An ambulance arrived with a doctor, a psychiatrist and the social worker. They apologized, and they tell us, ”Your sister is alive’,  and we were in shock. It is a miracle of God what has happened,” Ms Maruri’s sister Aura told Reuters.

It has been reported that Maruri was unconscious for about three weeks, and curfew measures prevented her family from visiting her until Saturday.

Guayaquil is the hardest-hit city in Latin America, with 15,365 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 242 deaths so far.