Nipah Outbreak in Kozhikode: Health Worker Tests Positive, Social Distancing Imposed

The Nipah virus cases in Kerala's Kozhikode have risen to five, including a health worker who recently tested positive. However, the source of the virus remains unidentified.

Previously, the state had reported four confirmed Nipah cases, sadly resulting in two fatalities over the past two weeks.

The latest case involves a 24-year-old health worker from a private hospital in Kozhikode, where one of the victims had succumbed to the infection on 30 August. Presently, the health worker and two others are under medical care.

A total of 153 health workers have been identified in the contact list of the confirmed Nipah cases.

In response, the state government has implemented stringent control measures. A state-level control room has been established, and nine panchayats in Kozhikode district have been declared as containment zones.

Approximately 800 individuals who had contact with the infected persons are currently under observation.

Following a high-level meeting led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, social distancing measures have been put in place in Kozhikode district for the next 10 days.

Public events in the district will be suspended, and social gatherings will only be allowed with limited participation and prior permission from the police.

Kerala's Health Minister Veena George disclosed that 789 individuals who came into contact with the confirmed cases have been identified, and the publication of route maps of the infected individuals is expected to further expand the contact list.

Out of these individuals, 77 are considered high-risk, and 17 have been isolated in Kozhikode hospitals. Additionally, a nine-year-old boy who tested positive is currently on life support.

Given the belief that fruit bats serve as a reservoir of the virus and the suspicion of animal-to-human transmission, samples of partially eaten fruits from Ayancheri and Maruthonkara, the villages of the deceased victims, have been collected.

Local panchayat officials have also conducted a comprehensive door-to-door survey in these villages.

In response to the situation, a team of doctors from the National Centre for Disease Control has visited the control room.

Two additional teams, one from ICMR-Pune and one from the Union Health Ministry, have arrived in Kozhikode on Wednesday (13 September) night to assist the state government in managing the situation.