Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19

After seven months, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday evening met the media, akin to his press meets held on a daily basis during the time when Covid hit the world.

Vijayan on Tuesday spoke in detail about Nipah virus outbreak reported at Kozhikode last week.

"Even though the authorities have been able to contain the spread of Nipah, things are not fully cleared fully. Caution has to be there for a while more and the media personnel going for reporting in the area like the health professionals have to be careful," he said. â€œ

"A second wave cannot be ruled out, but as of now everything is under control. 39 samples of bats had been sent for testing and have come negative. In 2018, Nipah was first reported in Kozhikode, then in 2019, it was at Ernakulam, then again at Kozhikode in 2021. Why at Kozhikode all the time is yet to be ascertained even as ICMR are still unable to come out on it," Vijayan said.

He added that there were 1,286 suspected cases this time and six positive cases were reported.

"Of the total suspects, 276 were in the high risk category, of which 122 were family members and relatives of the six positive cases. The suspects also included 118 health professionals. At present, 994 people are under observation. In all, 304 samples were sent for testing of which 267 results have come and six were positive. At the moment nine people are under isolation at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital," he added.

Vijayan meets media after 7 months with Nipah details