Alert about the Nipah virus: local fruit sales suffer...?
Kerala has so far reported six confirmed cases of the Nipah virus, marking the fourth such outbreak since 2018. To prevent the infection from spreading further, the government has ordered the closure of all educational facilities, and containment zones akin to those found in Covid have been established. Up until Wednesday, the kozhikode district's 11 wards had been designated as containment zones.
As a result of consumers' reluctance to purchase locally grown produce like guava, dragon fruit, and rambutan because the disease is spread by fruit bats, local fruit breeders and sellers have also experienced a significant setback. During the first Nipah outbreak in kerala in 2018, a similar trend in the sale of locally grown fruits and vegetables was also noted.
Here are all the most recent updates regarding the Nipah virus in Kerala:
From september 18 until further orders, all educational institutions in the kozhikode region, including all schools, colleges, and tuition centres, have been closed and have switched to an online learning environment. Tuesday, two deaths in Kerala's kozhikode district were attributed to the Nipah virus, according to Union health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. A 24-year-old healthcare worker was the fifth confirmed Nipah case in kerala for the most recent outbreak on Wednesday. One of the three infected individuals, a nine-year-old boy, is still in critical condition.
On Saturday, kerala had no new positive cases of the Nipah virus reported. However, a kozhikode hospital has isolated 5 additional people who had contact with the infected. Due to the area's location within a designated containment zone, Beypore Harbour has been told to halt all of its operations until further notice. As the only treatment option available to the government to treat infections, the ICMR has provided the antibody requested by the state to fight the deadly Nipah virus; however, the effectiveness of this antiviral has not been clinically demonstrated.
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