New Nipah virus case in Kerala

Blitz Bureau

NEW DELHI: A 38-year-old woman in Kerala’s Palakkad district has tested positive for the Nipah virus, while a suspected case from Malappuram district is currently awaiting test results, health officials said on July 4. Health officials were directed to step up surveillance measures and declare certain areas as containment zones. The woman, who is a resident of Nattukkal, is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district. Her samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for Nipah virus testing.

“The district collector informed me that the woman has tested positive for Nipah virus,” president of the local panchayat Muhammed Saleem KP said. He said that officials were directed to step up surveillance measures and declare certain areas as containment zones. “Ward number 8 was declared as containment zones along with a few other wards, partially, that fall within a three-kilometre-radius,” he added.

The district health authorities have drawn up a list of the places the woman had travelled and may have come in contact with people before testing positive. At least 100 people are expected to be high-risk contacts of the Nipah patient, an official said. State Health Minister Veena George said that protocols for Nipah virus were already implemented in Malappuram, Palakkad and Kozhikode before the test results came in.

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