13 people are presently in the hospital under observation...
Kozhikode: On Wednesday Kerala Health Minister Veena George confirmed another case of the Nipah virus, taking the total number of infections in the state to five. A 24-year-old health worker at a private hospital in Kozhikode has been diagnosed with the virus, the minister said.
Till now, 706 are on the contact list, of which, 77 are in the high-risk category, while 153 are health workers. Nobody in the high-risk category is showing symptoms currently.
13 people are presently in the hospital under observation, and are showing mild symptoms like headache.
The government has advised that the high-risk contacts should remain inside their homes.
Meanwhile, the Kerala government has formed 19 core committees to coordinate all measures. Volunteer teams have been formed by the local self-government to help deliver necessities to those under isolation.
The brain-damaging virus has so far killed two people in Kerala.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Veena George said that the state is aiming for "proactive detection" of infection before cases are confirmed in labs. The health administration is monitoring clinical symptoms so that alerts can be sounded in advance.
The state administration, Ms George said, is focusing on tracing contacts of infected persons early and isolating those with symptoms.
Responding to a question in Assembly today, the health minister said seven village panchayats -- Atanchery, Maruthonkara, Tiruvallur, Kuttiyadi, Kayakkodi, Villyapalli, and Kavilumpara -- in Kozhikode district have been declared containment zones. The creation of containment zones is part of the state government's strategy to limit the spread of infection.
Education Minister V Sivankutty has also directed Public Education Director to organize online classes for students of all schools in the containment zone so that they can attend classes from home.
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