Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed that the service of volunteer groups be provided to high-risk contacts in home isolation in the areas designated as containment zones around the two epicentres of the Nipah outbreak, Health Minister Veena George said here on Wednesday.
The decision was taken at a meeting called by Mr. Vijayan here in the evening.
The volunteer groups will be set up in specific wards by panchayats and given badges by the local bodies. They will also have phone numbers, which will be provided to the public for reaching out to them. Their task will be to provide all necessary help, including sourcing of medical help , medicines or food to the contacts in isolation.
Ms. George said, as per the final list, there were 706 people on the contact list, of which 77 had been classified as high-risk and asked to remain in home isolation. They should go to the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, if they developed any symptoms. Of the 706 contacts, 153 were health-care workers.
She said the contact list was likely to be expanded and that 75 additional rooms were being readied at the MCH to accommodate people as required.
The Minister said, as of now, the disease surveillance team had established that the person who died on August 30 should be the index case in this outbreak as no other cases of death following unusual symptoms had been detected from the district so far.
