Nipah Virus: Death toll rises to 11, neighbouring districts of Kozhikode, Mallappuram put on ‘high alert’

Lini Puthussery, a nursing assistant, who had contracted the disease while attending to three victims of Nipah virus, succumbed to the infection on Monday. To prevent further spread of the infection, her body was cremated in an electric crematorium immediately without handing it over to her family.

READ | ‘You should look after our children well’: Kerala nurse 

The Kerala government has also decided to give a government job to her husband and Rs 10 lakh each to two of their children. A decision in this regard was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Sajeesh, Lini’s husband, will be offered a government job based on his qualifications. Their two children, aged five and two, will be given Rs 10 lakh each from the chief minister’s relief fund, a government press release said.

READ | ‘She did more than what a duty nurse usually does for a patient’: Nurse Lini’s husband

Meanwhile, the Kerala government has asked travellers to avoid visiting four northern districts of the state — Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur. In an advisory issued by Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan, it was stated that travelling to any part of Kerala was safe. But if travellers wished to be extra cautious, they may avoid the four districts, it said.

Meanwhile, 2,000 Ribavirin tablets, an antiviral medicine, have already reached Kozhikode. Another batch of 8,000 tablets are expected to be delivered later in the day, Health department sources said.

READ | Nipah virus lethal, but local: Why you needn’t panic

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has assured assistance to the victims’ kin and added that the government was handling the issue with ‘utmost seriousness.’ “All efforts are also being made to ensure that more lives are not lost,” he said. Health Minister KK Shailaja, meanwhile, on Tuesday told reporters that no new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours and that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been informed about the outbreak.

The Ministry had yesterday asked people not to “panic” saying the outbreak was “unlikely” to spread further as early and efficient containment measures were being taken. It had also said that the outbreak appeared to be a “localised” occurrence.

The central team from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) team has already visited the house in Kerala’s Perambra from where the first death was reported, and found many bats in a well from where the family took water. Sixty different samples have been collected from the spot and sent for examination.

 What is Nipah virus?

Also called as NiV, the Nipah virus infection is spread mainly by fruit bats and can affect both humans as well as domestic animals including dogs, cats, goats, horses, and sheep. The infection presents as an encephalitic syndrome marked by fever, headache, drowsiness, disorientation, mental confusion, coma, and potentially death. There is no vaccine for the disease and the patient can also slip into the coma within 48 hours.

(With PTI inputs)