After Kerala reports 2 Nipah virus deaths, Tamil Nadu tightens screening at border areas

“There are six districts located at the Kerala border — Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi are some of them. The authorities will carry out fever checks for those who enter the state from Kerala. Measures are being taken to provide treatment to people who exhibit those symptoms during the checks. So there is no need to panic,” Subramanian said while speaking to the reporters at Gudalur in Nilgiris on the sidelines of an event.

Since Wednesday morning, the district health department authorities in Kanniyakumari were busy conducting fever checks for those arriving from Kerala through any mode of transport.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, district Collector PN Sridhar noted that they have deployed a team of officials comprising health inspector, local body officials and police to conduct checks.

“We have set up checkpoints at five locations like Kaliyakavalai, Pazhugal, Netta, Kozhivilai, Kakkavilai. The officials would check if the commuters have any sort of symptoms and if they are found having fever, they will be directed to treatment at the hospitals. The local government hospitals, private hospitals have also been directed to inform the district health officials if any fever cases are detected,” he said.

The collector added that the local body workers are also asked to make a list of people who frequently travel to Kerala and Kanniyakumari for work.

It is to be noted that on Tuesday, Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena chaired a meeting with all the officials of the health department and other stakeholders to discuss the preventive measures that are needed to be implemented to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases with the onset of north east monsoon.