Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Monday said no fresh cases of the Nipah virus were reported in the State as 61 samples taken of ‘high-risk’ contacts including healthcare workers tested negative.
She further said that Nipah strain found in Kerala has been identified as the Indian Genotype, or I Genotype, which is similar to the strain found in Bangladesh. Six cases of the Nipah virus have been so far found in the state of which two persons died while four others, including a nine-year-old boy, are under treatment. The Health Minister said that ICMR and WHO had conducted studies and found that Kerala and eight other states in India have the probability of Nipah occurrence.
