Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Health Department on Tuesday confirmed that 675 people have come into contact with Nipah patients in the state. Among them, 38 are listed in the highest-risk category, while 138 are on the high-risk list. Currently, the state has confirmed three cases—one in Malappuram and two in Palakkad.

Of the 675 individuals on the contact list, 178 are linked to the Palakkad man who recently tested positive and died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Malappuram.

The total number of people in the contact list for the three patients is as follows: Malappuram – 210, Palakkad – 347, Kozhikode – 115, Ernakulam – 2, and Thrissur – 1.

In Malappuram, one person has been admitted to the ICU with suspected Nipah symptoms. To date, 82 samples have tested negative in the district.

In Palakkad, 12 people are hospitalised in isolation wards, while five have been discharged.

A 38-year-old woman from Palakkad, who was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Perinthalmanna, was shifted to Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital after testing positive for the virus. Another woman from Malappuram has also tested positive.

On July 12, a 57-year-old man from Mannarkkad in Palakkad district died of Nipah infection while receiving treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Malappuram. The health department has released a route map of the person and identified those who came into contact with him after examining CCTV footage.

Meanwhile, the Palakkad district administration stated that a team from the National Institute of Virology has collected samples from 160 bats and sent them to Pune for testing.

It also visited Kallamala in Agali during the day, it added.

The district administration also said that the Animal Husbandry Department has informed that no unnatural death among animals was reported during the day from the Nipah-affected area and that a carcass of a bat has been collected for sample testing.

The district authority has declared several areas as containment zones in Mannarkkad and Ottapalam taluks and enforced strict curbs to avoid the outbreak of the virus.

The entry and exit points of various wards of Kumaramputhur, Karakurussi and Karimpuzha panchayats and Mannarkkad municipality have been closed, said a press release from the health department.

On Monday, the health minister had issued a Nipah alert to hospitals across six districts. The advisory was sent to medical facilities in Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad, and Thrissur.

Hospitals have been instructed to report any patients presenting with fever and symptoms resembling Nipah, including encephalitis and high-grade fever, the minister's office stated.

According to the WHO, Nipah virus is a zoonotic disease that spreads from animals to humans and can also be transmitted through contaminated food or via direct human-to-human contact.