Kerala: No new instances of Nipah in the last six days; restrictions are relaxed

After no new instances of the Nipah virus were recorded in Kerala for a sixth day in a row on Thursday, the Kozhikode district government eased restrictions that had been put in place as part of containment zones in nine village panchayats, according to persons acquainted with the situation.

Following the health department’s determination that the epidemic has been controlled, collector A Geetha withdrew the containment zones in the Vadakara taluk.

Six instances of the Nipah virus have been documented in Kozhikode so far; two of these cases have resulted in fatalities, while the other four are being treated. The health agency said in a statement that “the condition of all active cases, including the nine-year-old boy, is satisfactory.”

On Thursday, no new instances of the virus were recorded, and 27 additional samples had negative results, the statement said. The bulk of the six infected individuals’ high-risk contacts have so far been found, and their tests have come back negative.

In the meanwhile, more relaxations were implemented in the Kozhikode corporation and the wards of Feroke municipality, both of which were designated containment zones.

All stores are permitted to stay open until 8 p.m., while all banks and treasury offices are permitted to stay open until 2 p.m. After the sixth positive case was detected in a 39-year-old from Cheruvannur, a region within Corporation borders, these wards were designated as containment zones.

Currently, 981 persons are on the contact list, after 307 names were dropped when isolation was finished. Those on the contact list are required to spend 21 days in isolation in order to monitor their symptoms.