Kozhikode: The first isolation period of the last Nipah patient in the district was completed on Thursday. The people on his contact list have also completed their observation period, said Health Minister Veena George during a media briefing at the state government's review meeting at Cheruvannur.
“As a precautionary measure, only the last positive patient is under isolation for another 21 days. The remaining 40 people who were in isolation are now free. The Nipah control room will function for another 21 days,” she said.
As many as 1,288 people who were suspected to be potential contacts of the infected patients were quarantined and tested for the infection, with no positive reports to date.
“As many as 393 samples were tested after the Nipah outbreak, and it is a big feat that the outbreak got contained within a week. We were able to identify the index case early and confirm it after testing his sample. The nine-year-old patient who was on ventilator support has also recovered. We were able to bring down the Nipah mortality rate to 33 percent from 90,” she added.
"With the utmost caution, we traced every contact with positive cases. Only 113 wards were declared containment zones. Thanks to Kozhikode, health workers, officials, district administration, ICMR, and NIV Pune. It is a team effort,” the minister said.
Minister for Public Works Department and Tourism P A Mohammed Riyas also spoke in the briefing.
The latest outbreak in the district emerged in late August 2023, and up to now, only six people have been infected, of whom two have died. The first person, Mohammed Ali (49) who died on August 30, was found to be the index case, or patient zero, from whom others caught the infection. His nine-year-old son and brother-in-law had also contracted the disease.
