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Nipah scare: Kerala health minister Shailaja meets Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan

Agencies
June 7, 2019

New Delhi, Jun 7: Amid Nipah virus scare, Kerala health minister K K Shailaja on Friday met Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to discuss the status and the administration's preparedness for containment and management of the potentially deadly infection.

Vardhan, who is regularly reviewing the public health measures put in place in Kerala, assured her of all support from the Centre. "I am here to meet Dr Vardhan who has taken charge of the Health ministry and also update him about the status and the state's preparedness to prevent the spread of the virus," Shailaja told PTI.

She further said that the condition of a 21-year-old college student, who was diagnosed with Nipah infection, is stable and a total of 314 people who were in touch with the infected person have been kept under observation. "There have been no new cases," she said.

The Nipah virus had claimed 17 lives in the state in May last year. The Union Health Ministry has already deployed a six-member team comprising an epidemiologist and ICMR experts to conduct contact tracing for early detection of suspects and review of isolation facilities.  

Meanwhile, blood and serum samples of all seven suspected patients who were admitted to a quarantine facility at the Government Medical College in Kerala's Ernakulam district have tested negative for the virus.

A designated control room has been established at the district collector's office and an isolation ward established at the Government Medical College, Ernakulam, while isolation facilities have also been ensured at medical colleges at Calicut, Thrissur and Kottayam.

All healthcare facilities have been asked to ensure high index of suspicion in cases with similar symptoms and also ensure availability of isolation and emergency management facilities before referral.

According to the World Health Organisation, Nipah virus is a newly emerging disease that can be transmitted from its reservoir (natural wildlife host), the flying foxes (fruit bats), to both animals and humans. Symptoms range from asymptomatic infection, acute respiratory infection and encephalitis. Infected people initially develop influenza-like symptoms of fever, headache, vomiting and sore throat. This can be followed by dizziness, drowsiness, altered consciousness, and neurological signs that indicate acute encephalitis.

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News Network
January 2,2020

Perambalur, Jan 2: Veteran Tamil writer Nellai Kannan was arrested in Perambalur for criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah during a protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The Tirunelveli Police had registered the FIR against the writer for the speech delivered at a meeting, which was called by the Social Democratic Party of India on December 29 last year.

The police have booked him on the basis of multiple complaints filed by BJP leaders.

Kannan has been booked under Sections 504, 505(1) and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code.

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Agencies
May 19,2020

New Delhi, May 19: Former Union Minister P Chidambaram said that as the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown amid the coronavirus scare began from Monday, his thoughts were with the people of Kashmir who were in a "terrible lockdown within a lockdown."

The senior Congress leader said that at least now, the people in the rest of India will understand that he dubbed the "enormity of the injustice" done to those who were detained in Kashmir and those still under detention" immediately before and after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019.

Chidambaram said that former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was the "worst sufferer" of preventive detention and even courts had shirked their constitutional duty with respect to detainees.

"The worst sufferers are Mehbooba Mufti and her senior party colleagues who are still in custody in a locked-down state in a locked-down country. They are deprived of every human right," he said in a statement.

"I cannot believe that for nearly 10 months, the courts will shirk their constitutional duty to protect the human rights of citizens," he added.

The detention on Mehbooba Mufti under the Public Safety Act (PSA) had been extended for three more months on May 5. Booked under the stringent PSA, she was initially kept at the Hari Niwas guesthouse in Srinagar but later shifted to a Tourism Department hut in the Chashma Shahi area.

She was shifted to her Gupkar Road official residence on April 7.

Besides Mehbooba Mufti, two other former Chief Ministers -- Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah -- were also detained under the PSA but later released.

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News Network
May 5,2020

Kochi, May 5: India has sent three naval ships to evacuate its citizens stranded in the Maldives and UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a defence spokesperson said in the early hours on Tuesday.

INS Jalashwa deployed off Mumbai coast, along with INS Magar, diverted for Maldives on Monday night, he said.

While INS Shardul diverted to Dubai to evacuate the expatriates, the spokesperson added.

The three ships will return to Kochi, he said.

INS Magar and INS Shardul are Southern Naval Command ships, while INS Jalashwa is from Eastern Naval Command.

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