Chennai: Covid-battered Kerala, which has been on a high alert since the deadly Nipah virus resurfaced in the state, has heaved a sigh of relief with 20 samples sent to NIV, Pune for lab tests return a negative result.
A Nipah case was detected in Kerala's Kozhikode when a 12-year-old boy sucummbed to the virus on Sunday. The state health authorities had then sent the samples of 20 people, most of them primary contacts of the deceased patient, to the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
All 20 tested negative, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said Wednesday.
"The situation in the state is not completely fine but the results give cheers. A total of 68 people are under isolation in Government Medical College, Kozhikode. All patients are stable," she added.
"According to the rules of Nipah spread, after the last case is reported, one waits for 21 days and then for another 21 days, if there are no more fresh cases, then one can say Nipah spread has been contained, so we have to wait more and as such things are fine," said George.
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Of the 20 people whose samples sent to Pune, five were those who had symptoms and 15 were those who had direct contact with the deceased. On Tuesday, 10 other samples had also reported negative.
"Now we are awaiting the results of another 21 more samples, while 68 people are under observation at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital. So at the moment things are under control," said George.
State Forest Minister AK Saseendran said the department will cooperate with all to see samples are collected from bats and domestic animals from the present location, especially in and around the areas of the victim's house and for that a team of officials from NIV Bhopal is on the way. Meanwhile, the locality of the deceased remains cordoned off as a matter of caution.
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka step up vigil in bordering districts
Meanwhile, Karnataka tighetened the security in the bordering districts as Dakshina Kannada — which share border with Kerala — is on high alert as the authorities claim that every passenger is being checked and if there is a difference in temperature and they are visibly seen having the symptoms, they will be sent back. Police personnel are strictly checking the supply of fruits from Kerala to Karnataka.
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Tamil Nadu also stepped up tight surveillance to contain the spread of the Nipah virus. Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian had said on Sunday that they had informed senior health officials of nine districts sharing their border with Kerala to step up fever surveillance soon after information about Nipah virus infection death was received.
(With inputs from IANS)