Nipah outbreak: 24 more samples test negative in Kerala
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Thiruvananthapuram: In a major relief, Kerala’s Health officials on Thursday announced that 24 more samples tested negative for Nipah virus in Kozhikode.
Three more results are awaited, they added.
Kerala has so far confirmed a total of six cases of Nipah infection since the latest outbreak in the Kozhikode district. Two individuals lost their lives due to the virus, bringing the number of active cases down to four.
Since the outbreak, 352 samples were sent for testing, and with no positive cases in the past five days, authorities have started to breathe easy, even though caution continues at the two places which reported two deaths.
On Thursday, there were 952 people under observation and the condition of a nine-year-old boy who was positive has turned much better.
Even after identifying 1,286 virus suspects, the district authorities managed to effectively contain the spread and limited it to just six positive cases with timely action.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune officials are continuing their studies and testing with the bats in the affected two places in the district, but still have not been able to either get a positive result nor have they been able to identify the cause of it.
It was in 2018 that the Nipah was first reported in Kozhikode, in 2019 it was at Ernakulam, only to return to Kozhikode in 2021 and resurface in 2023.
With inputs from IANS
