Kerala Health Minister Veena George has said that no fresh cases of Nipah infection have been reported from the State till Saturday afternoon.
She told the media that 11 more body fluid samples of suspected patients sent for lab tests had turned negative for the virus. Of the 100 samples sent so far, the presence of the virus had been detected in only 94. Twenty-one people are under medical isolation at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, she said.
Ms. George earlier held a meeting of health experts to assess the present situation.
Six persons have so far tested positive for Nipah virus in Kerala, of whom two have succumbed to the disease. The others are under medical treatment. Two of them do not exhibit any symptoms of the infection, said the Minister.
She said that medical boards had been set up at the hospitals where the infected persons had been admitted. The condition of the nine-year-old son of E. Mohammedali, the index patient who died of the infection, is stable though he is on ventilator support.
More ambulances were being deployed to help suspected patients. They would be examined considering them as high-risk patients. The contact list of the 39-year-old man who tested positive for Nipah virus on Friday was being prepared, added Ms. George.
