Thiruvananthapuram: Health Minister of Kerala Veena George announced on Sunday that the Zika tally in the state has touched 18 after a 22-month-old toddler, a 29-year-old health worker and a 46-year-old man tested positive for the disease. The minister, in a statement, also said that out of the 27 samples sent for testing in two batches, 26 turned out negative. In the third batch, three samples were found positive on Sunday. She also said, said that instructions have been given to government hospitals to conduct tests of patients, especially pregnant women with fever, rashes, and body pain.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has directed the state Health Department to collect the blood samples of those affected by the virus. She said that the state has 27 government labs that can conduct RTPCR tests and the facilities at these can be used for testing for Zika virus, if more testing kits reach the state, Health Minister said
According to the health department, 2,100 test kits were received from NIV Pune and 1,000 have been given to Thiruvananthapuram, 300 each to Thrissur and Kozhikode and 500 to NIV in Alappuzha. "The Thiruvananthapuram medical college received 500 Triplex Kit which enables the simultaneous detection and differentiation of RNA from dengue virus, chikungunya virus and Zika virus and 500 singleplex kits which can detect Zika virus alone," the Minister said in the release.
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