Relief has begun to dawn — though slowly — in the northern Kerala districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram that were hit by the deadly Nipah virus which has so far claimed 17 lives with health officials assuring that the situation has come under control and as no new cases have been reported in the recent days even as a high-level meeting held on Monday to assess the situation observed that there was no need of anxiety.
“Presently, there is no situation for the people to feel anxious. However, the alert should continue,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media after the high-level meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram. It was unfortunate that some people had been carrying out an adverse campaign over the Nipah situation through the social media.
The Chief Minister congratulated the health workers in Kozhikode who had acted courageously and with dedication to contain the Nipah spread.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala praised the State Government for the steps it had taken to deal with the virus situation. The Government would bear the medical expenses of all those who had undergone treatment for virus infection.
Meanwhile, doctors at the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) in Kozhikode, the nerve-centre of anti-Nipah operations, said that the situation had come under total control. “As things stand, we don’t expect more persons to contract the virus in its Stage 2. Things are progressing almost exactly as we had expected,” said a senior doctor.
Since its presence was first identified three weeks ago, there have been 18 positive cases of Nipah in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
The virus has so far claimed 17 lives though the blood and body fluid samples of Sabith of Soopikkada, Perambra in Kozhikode district, the first person to die with Nipah symptoms, had not been subjected to analysis.
However, alert would continue till June 30, Health officials said. A total of 2,079 people, who were thought to have come into contact with affected persons, had been placed under observation. The inference of the Health officials is that nobody has contracted the virus after May 17 considering its incubation period.