Nipah samples from Karnataka, HP negative: Nadda

New Delhi, June 2

Amid concerns around the Centre’s silence on the status of Nipah virus disease in Kerala, Health Minister JP Nadda today reviewed the status with Kerala Health Minister as 17 persons have already died of the deadly infection.

Nadda said the infection remained localised in Kerala and all recent samples collected from Karnataka, Himachal, Goa and Telangana had tested negative.

For many days now, the Health Ministry has not been issuing updates about the number of suspected or confirmed cases from Kerala and the number of deaths. The exercise was undertaken for a few days after the outbreak in Kozhikode, but later discontinued.

After reviewing the situation, the central team that earlier visited Kerala for review suggested triage of Nipah cases and establishment of dedicated isolation facilities in district and strict-infection control practices.

A majority of the cases were found to be having contact with Nipah cases. The central teams recommended enlisting and daily follow up of all contacts. As of now, 90 contacts of those infected are being tracked. — TNS

Church stops holy communion on tongue

Kozhikode: In view of Nipah outbreak, the Syro-Malabar church here has decided to stop serving holy communion to the faithful on their tongue. The Thamarassery diocese, in a circular, told people about the decision that the communion, the sacrament commemorating last supper in which bread and wine are placed on their tongues, will henceforth be kept on their palms as a precautionary step, until further notice. PTI