Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Saturday convened a high-level meeting to take steps to prevent a Nipah outbreak in the state.
The meeting was convened in the wake of an outbreak of the virus infection that was suspected in northern Malappuram district.
According to local media reports, a boy from Malappuram, who is under treatment in a private hospital in neighbouring Kozhikode, was suspected to have symptoms of Nipah and his samples were sent to a central lab for a detailed scientific examination.
- BL Explainer. All you need to know about the Nipah outbreak
As per a statement from the Health Minister's office, the final test results were yet to be received but steps, as per the Nipah protocol, have already been initiated in the morning.
The actions would be coordinated according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) formulated as per the government order with regard to Nipah prevention, it said.
The health minister would reach Malappuram soon and lead the Nipah prevention activities, the statement added.
Various higher officials, including the health secretary, National Health Mission state director, district collectors of Kozhikode and Malappuram and health director took part in the meeting, it added.
The state government had announced recently that a special action calendar was being prepared for the prevention of a Nipah outbreak, which has haunted the state on four occasions in the past.
Nipah outbreaks have been reported in Kozhikode district in 2018, 2021, and 2023, and in Ernakulam district in 2019, and the presence of Nipah virus antibodies had been detected in bats in Kozhikode, Wayanad, Idukki, Malappuram, and Ernakulam districts.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.