Nipah virus returns to Kerala, 12-yr-old dead
Und 30 people e been sent to rantine at a time en state is already uggling with Covid
A ar-old boy died of Nipah s in north Kerala’s Kozhikn Sunday morning, triggeroncerns of a possible outk of another deadly virus e the state administration ggles to contain the second e of Covid-19 pandemic. ate health minister Veena ge said all three samples of oy were found to be positive ipah virus by the National tute of Virology (NIV) in . e minister said the boy was itted to a private hospital high fever a few days ago, nitially he was suspected to ffering from brain fever but samples were rushed to the for further testing. e health minister said boy’s ives and all those treating were among the 20 persons in quarantine after being tified as primary contacts, 150 others were secondary acts which were under strict rvation. wo of the 20 people in quarne, who were in close conwith the deceased, showed ptoms of Nipah and were ed to Nipah ward opened on ay, said the health minister. round 17 samples from ng the quarantined persons been sent for testing. special control room has set up in Kozhikode and a alert has been sounded in hbouring Malappuram and
Kannur districts, health officials said.
The health authorities said they suspect the virus to have spread through bats, as was the case earlier.
A zoonotic ailment sample of bats will be collected for further testing and a temporary lab will be set up in Kozhikode medical college to test samples, they said. A team from NIV Pune will also arrive in the city soon.
Like Coivd-19, isolation and quarantine are the best options to contain Nipah virus but its fatality rate is very high, above 80%, said experts.
They added that since the state was already under heavy alert, they hope to be able to contain the virus quickly this time.
“No need to panic. But high vigil is the need of the hour. I am also leaving for Kozhikode. We have a Nipah protocol and we will go by this,” said the minister in Thrissur.
Two other ministers, A K Saseendran and Mohamad Riyza were camping in the north Kerala city to evaluate the situation and the state government had called a high-level meeting in the afternoon.
A Union health ministry team comprising experts from the National Centre for Disease Control also reached Kozhikode in the afternoon and met the health workers and doctors in the medical college hospital.
The boy died at 5 in the morning.
As precautionary measures, a radius of three kilometres around his house at Mavoor panchayat in Kozhikode district has been sealed, authorities said.
Police is not allowing anyone to leave the cluster and their basic needs will be met by authorities.
President of Chathamangalam
panchayat, which falls in the vicinity of the affected zone said the local body will cooperate with health and police officials and had asked residents to remain inside.
In 2018, the deadly virus had claimed 17 lives in Kozhikode but later it was localised and contained effectively.
Amid the spike in Covid-19 cases in Kerala, the state government has said that it will continue with its night curfew and Sunday lockdowns.
Only essential services were allowed in the state as police carried out strict enforcement of lockdown rules.
Earlier, on September 4, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a press conference after holding a meeting to review the state’s Covid-19 situation, confirmed that the state will continue with its night curfew and Sunday lockdowns.