Kerala: Student tests positive for Nipah, toll 12

Health department officials said the deceased, V Moosa (62), hailed from Changarothu village. He was the father of Sabith (21) and Swalih (26) who died earlier this month and were the first ones to get infected. Their aunt had also died due to the infection last week. Nurse Puthussery Lini (30), who died on Monday, got infected while treating Sabith at the government taluk hospital at Perambra in Kozhikode.

The nursing student seemed to have got infected during a visit to the hospital at Perambra, sources said. As most of the confirmed cases are at the taluk hospital in Perambra, health staff at the hospital have claimed that local residents are boycotting them.

Kozhikode district medical officer V Jayasree said there are complaints from the taluk hospital at Perambra that caregivers, particularly nurses, are facing social boycott. The department has complained to the police against the staff of the crematorium who had refused to cremate the bodies of the Nipah virus victims, she said.

Meanwhile, the district administration in Kozhikode has issued an alert until May 31 and all public functions in the district have been suspended for a week.