Central team rushed to Kerala as 12-yr-old boy dies of Nipah virus

Kozhikode: A 12-year-old boy died due to Nipah virus infection at a hospital here in the wee hours of Sunday, state Health Minister Veena George said.

On Saturday, his blood samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, which confirmed the presence of the virus.

The child, who was earlier infected with Covid, had been under observation for the past five days after he developed severe fever.

The Health Minister told reporters in Thrissur that the primary contact list of the deceased has been prepared. However, none of them were reported to have been showing any symptoms. All of them are being monitored, she added.

The central government has rushed a team of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to Kerala to provide technical support. Veena George and other state ministers Muhammed Riyas and A K Saseendran have alos made it to Kozhikode.

A meeting of concerned is scheduled in the morning to take stock of the situation and guard against any further spread.

It was May 2018 that Kerala has its first tryst with Nipah virus after the first case reported from Perambra in Kozhikode.

As many as 23 people were infected with Nipah and only two survived the dreaded disease. A nurse who treated the patients had also succumbed to the virus attack in its first wave that lasted about six months in 2018. (UNI)