Four Nipah infected patients in Kerala have recovered, says Health Minister

Four people, including a nine-year-old boy, who was under treatment for Nipah in Kozhikode, have recovered, said state Health Minister Veena George on Friday.

Sharing the "good news", the minister said in a brief statement that they have tested "double negative" (they were tested twice and turned out to be negative). A total of six people were infected with the virus in the district, and of them two died. The first person who died on August 30 was found to be the index case, or patient zero, from whom others caught the infection.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lauded the efforts of the health workers, the ministerial team including George and other local associations for working together to fight the outbreak. He declared that those who were diagnosed with the infection and were under treatment had been cured. "We were able to develop an extensive system in place to fight the outbreak with the help of public health systems, local institutions and communities, at the very early stages of the suspected Nipah outbreak," Vijayan said in a Facebook post.

The CM said the experience Kerala gained after the outbreak in 2018 also came in handy in strengthening the precautionary steps taken by the government. "Isolation and surveillance of all those who came in contact with the patients helped in reducing the severity of the outbreak," he said, adding that it was a matter of pride that entire state stood together to fight an epidemic like Nipah.