Nipah virus contained, no need to run away from it: MoS Health

Kolkata, June 9

Union Minister of State for Health, Ashwini Choubey, said on Saturday that the Nipah virus has been contained and there was no need to run away from Kerala, from where several deaths were reported.

He said that though 17 deaths due to the virus have been reported from Kerala, no fresh cases of infection were filed.

"There has been no cases of Nipah reported from anywhere in the country. The virus has been stalled. This is a good sign. Nipah is not epidemic. There is nothing to be scared of," Choubey said.

The minister is in the city for official meetings with several health institutions, besides state ministers.

On reports of several people returning from Kerala to West Bengal fearing attacks by the virus, he said: "Our entire team is there in the place where it was reported from a particular place of a region in Kerala. The virus has been contained even there in Kerala where we had 17 deaths reported. There is no need to run away from anywhere".

Nipah virus has not claimed any life in West Bengal.

The Kerala government has asked travellers to avoid visiting the four districts of Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur as a precautionary measure.

Choubey said that the families in Kerala, who have lost their kin because of the Nipah virus, have been treated in isolation and were totally out of danger.

"We have treated the family of those persons who were affected and died because of the Nipah virus. They were kept in isolation in Pune's National Institute of Virology," the minister added.

"As per the latest report of the Central High Level Team, Nipah Virus Disease is not a major outbreak and only local occurrence limited to two districts  Kozhikode and Malappuram in Kerala," an advisory issued by the National Centre for Disease Control said.

"There is no need for the general public to be apprehensive about the safety of individuals and their family members. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is closely monitoring the situation," the department under the Health Ministry added. PTI