Following a Nipah death reported in the Malappuram district of Kerala on July 21, Karnataka’s Health Department has issued a travel advisory asking people to avoid travel to the affected areas of Kerala unless it is essential.
“Karnataka has been taking all necessary actions to check the cross-border transmission of infection from Kerala whenever an outbreak is reported. There is no need to panic as all the high-risk contacts of the 14-year-old boy, who died in Malappuram, have tested negative,” an official statement said.
“Further, as the boy exhibited Acute Encephalitis Syndrome symptoms, the chance of human-to-human transmission seems very less, and there is no need for panic at this moment. But as a precautionary step, one may avoid travel until it is essential, to the affected areas of Kerala (Mallapuram district), till the area is declared safe from Nipah virus infection,” the statement said.
“It is important to note that although Nipah outbreaks have been reported in Kerala in the past, with the most recent one occurring in 2023 in the Kozhikode district, no cases have been reported in Karnataka till date,” the statement added.