A day after Nipah was confirmed in four people in Kerala's Kozhikode district, a team from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune will arrive at Kozhikode Medical College on Wednesday to set up a mobile lab to test for Nipah and carry out a survey of bats.
Besides the NIV team, a group of epidemiologists will also reach Kerala from Chennai. "The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has agreed to fly down the monoclonal antibodies that are required to treat Nipah patients," Health Minister Veena George told the Assembly session during the question hour.
She added that the virus strain seen in Kerala was the Bangladesh variant that spreads from human to human and has a high mortality rate. However, it is less infectious.
Meanwhile, authorities have expedited surveillance, and contact tracing, categorising them into low and high risk, setting up isolation facilities for them, demarcating containment zones and procuring medicines from ICMR for those infected to prevent the spread of the virus.
The death of the first person, on August 30, was initially considered a death due to the comorbidity of liver cirrhosis. But, doctors suspected Nipah only after other members of his family fell ill. His son, a nine-year-old boy, is battling for his life in ICU. Another close relative, his 24-year-old brother-in-law, succumbed to the virus.
Containment zones
The authorities have declared seven village panchayats -- Atanchery, Maruthonkara, Tiruvallur, Kuttiyadi, Kayakkodi, Villyapalli, and Kavilumpara -- as containment zones.
No travel in or out of these containment zones will be allowed till further notice. The police have been asked to cordon off these areas. Only stores selling essential commodities and medical supplies will be allowed to function, that too from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. No time bar has been given for pharmacies and health centres.
Local self-government institutions and village offices can function with minimum staff. Buses or vehicles plying on national highways through the containment zones should not stop in the affected areas.
All should maintain social distancing and use masks and sanitiser in the containment zones, it said.
