(Image source from: Reuters.com)

Kerala reported two unnatural deaths, suspected of Nipah Virus. Health officers and Health Minister Veena George immediately started precautionary measures over the virus alert.

Four from the Kozhikode district tested positive, and two already died in them because of the virus. On Wednesday one of the health workers turned positive, by raising the count to five. The infected health worker is a 24–year–old woman, who is working at a private hospital, where one of the victims died on August 30th.

Sadly, 153 workers have been identified as direct contact with the infected person. The outbreak is expected to be huge and create tremors in and around Kozhikode district. For now, the government has recognized nine panchayat regions of Kozhikode district as contaminated zones and announced a lockdown. Schools, colleges, offices and shops were closed in contaminated zones. More than 800 people are brought under observation.

After the exposure to Nipah Virus, a person will have an incubation period of 5 to 14 days. Symptoms will be fever and headache followed by drowsiness, disorientation and mental confusion.

Nipah Virus is transmitted only with the contact of the bodily fluids of infected bats, pigs or human beings. The Nipah Virus's first breakout was in 1999 after an outbreak of illness in pig farmers in close contact with pigs in Malaysia and Singapore.

In Kerala, the first case was registered in 2018, where 21 out of 23 died.