16 contacts of the victim test negative for the Nipah virus in Kerala

Kerala Health Minister Veena George announced that the test results for 16 contacts of the 14-year-old boy who succumbed to the Nipah virus in Malappuram have returned negative. This brings some relief as 16 out of the 58 samples tested so far for the Nipah virus have shown negative results. 

The boy from Malappuram, who was being treated for Nipah infection, died on July 21. Following his death, a thorough contact tracing and testing process was initiated. 

"All of them belong to the low-risk category," the minister said after a Nipah review meeting held at the Malappuram Collector's Conference Hall via an online platform. 

Despite these negative test results, there are 472 people on the contact list, with 21 individuals currently admitted to hospitals in Manjeri and Kozhikode medical colleges. Out of those hospitalized, 17 are known contacts of Nipah virus patients. 

The minister noted that three people were admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, increasing the number of hospitalized patients to 21. Of these, 17 individuals are from the contact list.

Additionally, 12 new individuals were added to the secondary contact list on Wednesday, raising the total number of contacts to 472. Among these, 220 people are considered to be in the high-risk category.

To monitor and control the spread of the virus, a comprehensive fever survey was conducted across 8,376 houses in the Pandikkad (epicenter) and Anakkayam panchayats in Malappuram. 

"So far, a total of 26,431 houses have been surveyed. The survey is expected to be completed in all houses by Thursday," Minister George said.

Furthermore, as part of mental health support, counseling was provided to 224 people today.