Kerala Health Minister Veena George has confirmed that a Nipah infection case of a 14-year-old boy from Malappuram district has been reported.
George, while speaking to the media said that the Pune NIV (National Institute of Virology) had confirmed the infection in the boy who is currently under treatment at a private hospital.
“He will be shifted to the government medical college at Kozhikode. The contact tracing has begun. High-risk contacts have already been isolated and their samples have been sent for testing,” George told the media.The child is under treatment and is on a ventilator, George added.
The minister confirmed that the epicentre was Pandikkad and that precautionary measures were being taken. She appealed to the people in Pandikkad to be careful and that the nearby hospitals staff and patients should wear masks in public spaces and avoid visiting patients in hospitals.
The state government had recently announced that a special action calendar was being prepared for the prevention of a Nipah outbreak. The virus has haunted the state on four occasions earlier. Nipah outbreaks have been reported in Kozhikode in 2018, 2021, and 2023 and in Ernakulam district in 2019.
