Under Italy’s Wuhan coronavirus vaccination mandate for those over the age of 50, a woman was fined for being unvaccinated but her relatives say she died 18 years ago.
Maria Sedda, the woman who received the sanction from Italian authorities for being unvaccinated, disappeared in 2004 aged 37, but the fact she is legally dead did not stop the Sardinian municipality of Lula from sending a €100 (£84/$105) fine to her in the mail.
Relatives of Ms Sedda have been forced to turn to a lawyer to help them tackle the bureaucratic error and, according to a report from the newspaper Il Giornale, they will likely have to produce a death certificate to have the fine waived.
The fine, which came by registered mail, arrived in early March and was just one of the thousands of letters sent out by the Italian revenue agency to those not registered as being vaccinated since the policy was enacted earlier this year.
A report in March noted at least 600,000 people were set to receive the initial fines for being unvaccinated, far below previous estimates that as many as 1.8 million Italians were at risk of receiving a fine.
The case in Sardinia is not the first time the Italian government has wrongfully sent a fine for being unvaccinated in recent weeks. Last month, a fine was delivered to the home of a woman in Naples who had died 23 years ago.
Domenica De Stefano had died at the age of 28 in an accident shortly before she was set to be married. The family of the woman who received the letter were said to be upset after receiving the fine from the government.
Fines for those unvaccinated over 50 are set to remain in place until around mid-June, while other Wuhan coronavirus restrictions in Italy have slowly been lifting since the end of the state of emergency at the end of March.
On May 1st, Italy lifted the Wuhan coronavirus health pass system known as the Green Pass from various venues and while mask mandates have lifted in some areas as well, they have been kept in others, such as hospitals, schools and public transit, where they are expected dot be lifted din mid-June.