Nipah: 20 lakh for kids, job for nurse's husband

The Kerala government on Wednesday announced financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each to the two children of nursing assistant Lini N (28) who died after contracting the Nipah Virus (NiV) while attending to the infected.

The state cabinet, in a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, also decided to offer a government job to her husband Sajeesh who is at present employed in Bahrain.

Lini was employed at a Taluk hospital, in Perambra in Kozhikode district, where Mohammed Sabid — one of the first victims of the infection in the state — was initially treated. Lini’s final letter to her husband asking him to take care of their two boys (aged five and two) had caught national attention. The NiV infection with Perambra as its epicentre has claimed 11 lives in the state. Families of the deceased will receive Rs 5 lakh each as compensation.

The state has reported 13 cases of NiV infection, including the 11 dead, in the districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram. The condition of two persons undergoing treatment is reported as critical. On Wednesday, a native of Perambra was reported to have sought treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kottayam. Anti-viral drug Ribavirin is being stocked at the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital.

Amid a sense of fear gripping people travelling to Kerala, the state health department has issued an advisory confirming that the infection remained “highly localised” and all the cases were linked to one family. The state government is conducting surveillance in Kozhikode district and the neighbouring districts of Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur. “Travelling to any part of Kerala is safe. However, if travellers wish to be extra cautious, they may avoid the districts mentioned above when travelling to the state,” the advisory said.

The state police have said criminal cases would be registered against people who create panic about the infection by spreading false and unverified information.