The Kerala government has urged the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to upgrade the Institute of Advanced Virology at Thiruvananthapuram to a regional virology institute. The Central Public Works department has been requested to fast-track work on the proposed virology lab at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode.
These are some of the steps being taken by the Department of Health to strengthen the surveillance and resistance against Nipah infection, Health Minister Veena George has said. She was at the Gender Park, Vellimadukunnu, here on Thursday to open a workshop titled ‘Nipah: Kerala experiences and learning’.
Ms. George said the health-care sector in Kerala was unaware of the deadly infection when it was first reported in Kozhikode in 2018. When the infection resurfaced in 2019 and 2021, however, the State could stop it from spreading.
