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Thiruvananthapuram, September 29 Investigations into the source of Kerala’s third tryst with the Nipah virus early this month appeared to reach some closure on Wednesday, with the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, detecting the presence of IgG antibodies from samples of fruit bats collected from the village of the lone victim in Kozhikode.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George said here that results are awaited of 50 other samples collected from the village and its neighbourhood by the NIV at the instance of the India Council of Medical Research, subject to which alone the source could be confirmed indisputably.
Finger of suspicion
Preliminary findings point the finger of suspicion at fruit bats, and it is the first time in three outbreaks that this much has been deduced. The State is relieved that not a single case of infection has been reported after the lapse of the virus incubation period of 21 days of the latest outbreak on September 4.
“We will wait for double this period (42 days) before formally giving the all-clear. We cannot afford to let down guard yet after our spirited defence managed to keep the virus at bay for this long,” she said. House-to-house surveys launched had covered 16,732
individual homesteads and engaged 76,074 family members. Fifty samples of them were sent for testing but all had returned negative.
Covid count review
On Covid deaths, the Minister said that a review of the count is on after complaints from many quarters about the manner in which these were compiled.
The government will come out with the revised list in the next 30 days, and compensation will be paid to the next of kin of the deceased.
A group of doctors and public health activists have been arguing that the definition of Covid deaths as delineated by the World Health Organization (WHO) gave much room for misinterpretation. But the larger issue was that deaths being certified by treating physicians were being deleted from the official list.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the official count may go up by at least 8,000 to 33,000-plus as of Wednesday. Still, the case fatality ratio would be significantly below 1 per cent, said sources.
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