Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan on Tuesday said all persons on the contact list of the state's lone Nipah patient had safely completed the prescribed quarantine period.
He called it a "major milestone" in containing the outbreak.
The minister, in a statement, said the lone Nipah patient continued to be on ventilator support at Government Medical College, Kozhikode.
The patient's last two samples, collected over the past week, had tested negative, and further treatment would be decided by a medical board, he added.
Muraleedharan said early detection of the infection, accurate contact tracing and strict surveillance had helped prevent the spread of the virus.
He said the state was able to contain the disease without imposing measures such as containment zones that disrupt people's movement and livelihoods.
The minister commended the district administration and health workers involved in the containment efforts and said surveillance would continue as per protocol.
The affected area can be declared Nipah-free after completion of the mandatory 42-day observation period, he said.
Nipah is a zoonotic virus that can spread from animals to humans and, in some cases, between humans.
Fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, are the natural reservoir of the virus. The infection can cause severe respiratory illness and encephalitis, and has a high fatality rate.
Four persons in the very high-risk category — two family members of the patient and two healthcare workers — were released from quarantine on Tuesday after completing 21 days of observation without developing any symptoms.
The minister said all 58 samples collected from persons with Nipah-like symptoms in the district since June 10 had tested negative.
Three persons in the high-risk category and 24 in the low-risk category were also released from observation on Tuesday.
With this, all persons in the very high-risk and high-risk categories had completed quarantine.
Only three persons in the low-risk category remained under surveillance, he said.
The minister said eight fresh Shigella cases were reported in the state on Tuesday, with two cases each from Kollam, Kannur and Palakkad, and one each from Thrissur and Malappuram.
A total of 205 Shigella cases and six deaths were reported in the state during June, taking the total number of infections this year to 281, he said.
The highest number of cases in June was reported from Kozhikode, Malappuram and Wayanad, he added.
Shigella is a highly contagious bacterial infection that primarily spreads through contaminated food, water or poor hygiene and causes diarrhoea, fever and stomach cramps.
Outbreaks have been declared in Kozhikode, Wayanad, Thrissur and Alappuzha districts, while infections were also reported from Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Idukki, among other districts, the minister said.
