Kerala: Health Minister Veena George assured Saturday that the situation created by the Nipah virus in the state had calmed down. She said samples of those with milder symptoms will be sent to NIV Pune for testing. So far, all samples have been negative. The minister said, “Concerns have been allayed but restrictions imposed on the district will continue. On the first day, vaccination in Kozhikode was stopped for 48 hours but was resumed later.”
Officials at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) collected samples from fruit-eating bats to find the source of the Kozhikode Nipah virus. A group of Pune NIV health officials arrived in Kozhikode on Friday and visited the Nipah epicentre. Widespread panic is caused by the appearance of positive cases of the virus infection.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday, government officials conducted a complete house-to-house survey within a three-km radius from the house of the 12-year-old boy who succumbed to the Nipah virus on September 5 as part of his fever surveillance. “A house-to-house survey was conducted within a three-km radius from the house of the deceased child. The survey was held in around 15,000 houses and involved around 68,000 persons. The surveillance team sought details of any unusual fever or unnatural deaths in these areas,” he informed.