Test results of 73 people who had come in close contact with the 12-year-old child who succumbed to the Nipah virus have returned negative, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said in a statement on Friday morning. In the statement, the minister said samples of five more people who were in the contact list returned negative, taking the total number of people who are in the clear to 73. On Thursday, samples of 22 contacts had returned negative. She also said in the release that more samples would be tested during the day and that 64 people were under observation at the Kozhikode Medical College and their health was stable.
She also said that presently, 274 people were identified as being in the primary contact list of the victim and they were being observed. Out of them, 149 were health workers, 47 were from other districts and seven were showing mild symptoms of fever. Everyone's health was stable, she added. The minister added that since the incubation period of the virus was 21 days from the date of first contact with the victim and therefore, everyone in the contact list was being monitored.
Besides, a three kilometer radius around the victim's home has been set up as a containment zone and a house-to-house survey was carried out there to find out if anyone was suffering from any unusual illness or had died due to unusual causes. The minister further added that the survey did not disclose any such unusual instances of illness or death. Eighty-nine people, who had no contact with the victim, were identified with minor symptoms of fever, during the house-to-house survey and mobile labs will be used to examine them and collect their samples for testing.
In the first outbreak reported in Kozhikode district in 2018, 17 people lost their lives to the virus. In 2019, a 23-year-old man from Ernakulam district was found to be infected by Nipah, however, he recovered from the illness. No further spread was reported from the index person in the 2019 case. The third instance was on September 5 this year when the 12-year-old Kozhikode native boy succumbed to the disease.
(With PTI inputs)