Kozhikode: The Health Department has ended Nipah surveillance in Ward 5 of Ramanattukara Municipality in Kozhikode after no new cases were reported for 42 days. Health Minister K Muraleedharan said the state has successfully contained the outbreak, with no additional infections reported since the first case was confirmed on June 11.

Muraleedharan said the disease was brought under control without imposing restrictions that affected people’s daily lives or movement and praised the efforts of health workers for preventing the virus from spreading further.

The 43-year-old patient, who is being treated at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, is recovering well. He has been taken off ventilator support, and three consecutive Nipah tests have returned negative. Doctors treated the patient with the antiviral drug Ribavirin and administered the first dose of monoclonal antibody therapy on June 12, the health department said. 

Following the confirmation of the case, health officials carried out surveillance in the patient’s neighbourhood, workplace and the hospitals he had visited. A district control room was set up and 104 contacts were identified and monitored. All of them completed the observation period without developing the disease. 

The health minister visited Kozhikode on June 14 to review the situation, while district in-charge Minister A P Anil Kumar held a high-level meeting on June 13. Officials conducted daily review meetings throughout the surveillance period to coordinate the response.