One more person has tested positive for the Nipah virus in Kerala, taking the total number of confirmed cases to six. The 39-year-old man was tested positive in the private hospital where other Nipah-affected patients are availing treatment. His sample was tested in the mobile virology testing laboratory that was flagged off earlier on Friday. Of the six confirmed cases so far, four of them are active.
The contact list of the first five cases contains as many as 950 persons, with 213 of them in the “high-risk” category. The number of contacts is expected to go up further with the sixth confirmed case. According to reports, the 39-year-old man was present at the hospital during the time when a Nipah patient, who later died, was availing treatment.
Two patients aged 44 and 40 had died on August 30 and September 11 respectively. Subsequently, two family members - aged 25 and 9 - of the first patient had also tested positive. On September 13, a 24-year-old health worker in Kozhikode tested positive for Nipah.
The results of the 15 samples sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune are expected to arrive this evening. Meanwhile, officials have been testing samples of individuals in the mobile testing unit. Rolling out the lab on Friday morning, Health Minister Veena George said that more samples can be tested with the mobile lab. "Biosafety Level 2 (BSL) plus Level 3 practices can be done in the lab where two machines will be working simultaneously. At any given point of time, each machine can handle around 96 samples and a total of 192 samples can be tested in the two machines," she said.
Meanwhile, the district administration has put public restrictions in place in Kozhikode, including a restriction on public meetings or events. “Postpone public events, ceremonies and meetings until restrictions are lifted. All the meetings should be conducted online only. Events that are unavoidable should be conducted only after obtaining permission from the district administration. Avoid unnecessary travel until restrictions are lifted. Visits to parks, beaches and shopping malls should be avoided as much as possible. People are restricted from entering places where bats are present, and cattle should not be allowed to graze in such areas. If there are any symptoms among pigs in pig breeding centres or if there is an abnormal increase in the mortality rate, it should be reported immediately to the nearest veterinary hospitals,” the district administration said. It also prohibited people from venturing into containment zones and anybody from touching the bodies of wild animals, including bats and pigs, under any circumstances.