West Bengal On High Alert As 2 Nurses Test Positive For Nipah Virus In Private Hospitals

Kolkata: West Bengal government had sent an alert across all state healthcare facilities, after two nurses from two different nursing homes were kept on ventilators after they tested Nipah Virus positive.

Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam mentioned that the state is fully prepared to tackle the situation and has advised the hospitals to follow the protocols during testing, treatment and isolation.

On Monday, the state government had mentioned that two people from two private hospitals, one male nurse and one female nurse, have been admitted in hospital after they had symptoms of Nipah virus.

After testing from Kalyani AIIMs, it was confirmed that both of them are Nipah virus positive. Their samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for re-verification.

It is learnt that the female nurse, on December 15 and 17 had attended a family wedding in Nadia and had also attended several other places. After falling ill, she was hospitalized. The male nurse on December 20 and 21 was on the night duty with the female nurse.

According to sources, the conditions of the nurses are ‘critical’.

According to Swasthya Bhawan sources, all the hospitals are asked to keep separate isolation wards ready to tackle the situation.