{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T17:07:18Z","timestamp":1785431238775,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"AOSIS","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,29]],"date-time":"2025-01-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738108800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background:\u00a0To evaluate the effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the preventative measures taken, especially how they affect forensic pathology services in rural South Africa.\n\nMethods:\u00a0This retrospective analysis includes referred post-mortem cases from all forensic pathology services in Limpopo province, comparing the period before the COVID-19 pandemic (01 January 2019 to 31 December 2019) with the pandemic period (01 January 2020 to 31 December 2020). Data analysis was performed using STATA 16.0 software (StataCorp; College Station, TX). Chi-square test was employed for comparison, with a\u00a0p-value &lt; 0.05 deemed statistically significant.\n\nResults:\u00a0Approximately 9319 cases were submitted for post-mortem examinations, with 4857 occurring before the pandemic and 4462 during it, marking an 8.1% decrease. There was a decrease in the number of unnatural death cases, while the instances of natural deaths rose. Cases under investigation saw a notable increase. There was a marked decrease in referrals for forensic examinations across all districts. In addition, except for one facility, there was a decline in the number of cases sent for autopsies at all facilities.\n\nConclusion:\u00a0In conclusion, forensic pathology services in this province had been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown that followed, especially in the tertiary hospital. It has led to new challenges for case management and necessitated changes to operating procedures.\n\nContribution:\u00a0It has required modifications to operational procedures and has introduced various challenges in case management.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4102\/safp.v67i1.6038","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,10]],"date-time":"2025-02-10T04:31:52Z","timestamp":1739161912000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4102\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on forensic pathology services in Limpopo province, South Africa"],"prefix":"10.4102","volume":"67","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6521-8102","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thakadu A.","family":"Mamashela","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/017p87168","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Limpopo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3101-5814","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samuel T.","family":"Ntuli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/003hsr719","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2580","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref0","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lai CC, Shih TP, Ko WC, Tang HJ, Hsueh PR. 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