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Thiruvananthapuram. After the death of two people due to Nipah virus (virus) infection in Kozhikode district of Kerala, now two more people including a nine-year-old child have been infected with the virus. Kerala Health Minister Veena George gave this information on Tuesday. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, the Kerala government set up a control room in Kozhikode and advised people to use masks as a precaution. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a post on Facebook that the government is taking the death of the two people seriously and the health department has issued an alert in Kozhikode.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged people to “strictly follow the instructions of the health department and the police and fully cooperate with the restrictions”. He said, “Nipah virus infection has been confirmed in Kozhikode district. Two people died due to infection. “Out of the 4 people whose samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for testing, 2 are Nipah positive and 2 are Nipah negative.”
‘Kozhikode on alert for virus’
Veena George, who reached Kozhikode despite the state assembly being in session, said that Kozhikode is on alert for the virus and all protocols are in place and will be implemented if required. Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that two people died due to Nipah virus in Kozhikode district of Kerala. Mandaviya said that a central team of experts has been sent to Kerala to take stock of the situation and assist the state government in dealing with Nipah virus infection.
For the first time, a case of Nipah was reported in Kozhikode in 2018.
The current suspected case was reported about 15 km away from the location where the initial outbreak of Nipah virus in southern India was first identified in Kozhikode in May 2018 and again in 2021. Nipah virus infection is basically a zoonotic disease and can spread from animals to humans, apart from this it can also spread through contaminated food or contact.
