All contacts of Kerala's lone Nipah patient complete quarantine
Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan on Tuesday said all persons on the contact list of the state's lone Nipah patient had safely completed the prescribed quarantine period.
He called it a "major milestone" in containing the outbreak.
The minister, in a statement, said the lone Nipah patient continued to be on ventilator support at Government Medical College, Kozhikode.
The patient's last two samples, collected over the past week, had tested negative, and further treatment would be decided by a medical board, he added.
Muraleedharan said early detection of the infection, accurate contact tracing and strict surveillance had helped prevent the spread of the virus.
He said the state was able to contain the disease without imposing measures such as containment zones that disrupt people's movement and livelihoods.
The minister commended the district administration and health workers involved in the containment efforts and said surveillance would continue as per protocol.
The affected area can be declared Nipah-free after completion of the mandatory 42-day observation period, he said.
Nipah is a zoonotic virus that can spread from animals to humans and, in some cases, between humans.
Fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, are the natural reservoir of the virus.
Four persons in the very high-risk category — two family members of the patient and two healthcare workers — were released from quarantine on Tuesday after completing 21 days of observation without developing any symptoms.
The minister said all 58 samples collected from persons with Nipah-like symptoms in the district since June 10 had tested negative.