Thiruvananthapuram: Nipah virus has haunted Kerala again; a 12-year-old boy succumbed to the virus in the Kozhikode district. 

Kerala is grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic with daily 25,000 cases have been reported, now it has to face the Nipah virus it took 17 lives in 2018 in Kozhikode district. Again in 2019, a single case was reported in the district. Kerala Health minister Veena George told reporters that a 12-year-old boy died due to the Nipah virus. 

The Nipah virus infection transmitting from bats to humans; in some cases, it is transmitted from dogs and horses. In 2018, the virus spread through human-to-human transmission. 

Following the detection of the Nipah virus, the central team has rushed to Kerala. “Central Government has rushed a team to Kerala to support the State in public health measures and provide technical support,” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet.

Union Health Ministry has issued SoP to Kerala government and asked individual case search of families, village monitoring, home quarantine of the contacts, and isolation of Nipah infected patients. Kerala government has announced a containment zone in 

Read: Kerala fails to tackle Covid cases: Congress

Chathamangalam village in a radius of 3 km. Roads in the Pazhoor ward of Chathamangalam have been blocked. Meanwhile, Chathamangalam has more than 500 active cases; the health department has camped at the village. 

Veena George said that the next seven days will be critical; a point-of-care-testing facility will be set up at the hospital with the help of experts from NIV. In case of a positive test result, a confirmation test will be carried out at NIV, which has promised to make the result available in 12 hours, she told reporters. 

The health department has identified 188 persons who had contact with the infected boy; all these persons were strictly put in quarantine. The majority of them belong to healthcare workers working at various hospitals in Kozhikode, where the boy had been treated and had consulted doctors from August 29 onward.

Among 188 persons, 20 people have been identified as being in the high-risk category and have been moved to an isolation ward at the Government Medical College in Kozhikode, the Minister said.