Nipah outbreak: Health alert issued on Tamil Nadu-Kerala border

Following the deaths due to Nipah virus in Kozhikode, Kerala, Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has issued an alert in the border areas.

Dr. T.S., Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Government of Tamil Nadu. In view of the two cases of Nipah virus reported from Kerala, we will be screening passengers coming from Kerala at the border posts by health teams, Selvanivayagam said in a statement. A separate team has been deployed around the clock in six districts of Tamil Nadu, which shares the border with Kerala.

Those six districts are Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Theni, Tenkasi and Kanyakumari.

Deputy Directors of Health Services have been directed to screen all symptomatic fever cases at the borders with necessary protective equipment.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramaniam, while speaking to the media in Gudalur in Nilgiri district, said that there is no need for people to panic over the Nipah outbreak in Kerala.

The minister also said that people showing symptoms of fever will be screened.