Kerala's Zika tally touches 18 with three more positives: Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Health Minister Veena George on Sunday announced that the Zika infected patients' tally in Kerala has touched 18 after three more, including a toddler, a 29-year-old health worker and a 46-year-old man tested positive for the disease.

In a statement issued, the health minister also said that out of the 27 samples sent for testing in two batches, 26 turned out negative. In the third batch, three samples out of the eight were found positive on Sunday.

"The Thiruvananthapuram medical college received 500 Triplex Kit which enables the simultaneous detection and differentiation of RNA from dengue virus, chikungunya virus and Zika virus and 500 singleplex kits which can detect Zika virus alone," the Minister said in the release.

George said that the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has directed the state Health Department to collect the blood samples of those affected by the virus. She said that the state has 27 government labs that can conduct RTPCR tests and the facilities at these can be used for testing for the Zika virus, if more testing kits reach the state.

She added that the government has also arranged testing facilities at Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikode Medical colleges and also at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) unit at Alappuzha.

The minister also said that instructions have been given to government hospitals to conduct tests of patients, especially pregnant women with fever, rashes, and body pain.

The Health Department, in a statement, said that the state has received 2,100 testing kits from NIV, Pune and of this, 1,000 have been given to Thiruvananthapuram, 300 each to Thrissur, and Kozhikode, and 500 to NIV, Alappuzha.