Chennai: A latest study has claimed that 18 per cent of Covid-19 cases in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh were diagnosed either less than 24 hours before death or posthumously. The study looked at cases recorded until 1 August.
The study was conducted by researchers at Princeton University’s Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions and was published in the journal Science.
According to the study, half of the cases ascertained before death in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh succumbed in under six days of testing.
It also claimed that 1,042 fatal cases (18.2 per cent of 5,733 observed) were identified within 24 hours before death or posthumously.
“Our observations likely indicate a substantial proportion of patients in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh are diagnosed late in their disease course, although differences in patients’ health status, healthcare systems capacity, and approaches to end-of-life care may also contribute to variation in time to death,” it said.
Tamilnadu’s overall Covid-19 case tally breached the six lakh-mark on Thursday as 5,688 more persons tested positive.