Kerala Govt prioritizes surveillance to prevent Nipah virus outbreak

Kerala Government has stepped up surveillance for Nipah Virus coinciding with the breeding time of bats, the carriers of the virus.

State Health Minister Veena George has said, monitoring will be scaled up in all districts even though Nipah cases have been previously reported only in  Kozhikode and Ernakulam.

The Nipah outbreak was first reported at Perambra in Kozhikode in May 2018 and later spread to adjoining Malappuram. Sixteen people had died. The outbreak was fully contained in June 2018.  The virus was detected again the next year in  Ernakulam, but none died.  The last reported case was in 2021 in a 12-year-old boy in Kozhikode who died later