Nipah has around 70% mortality rate, Covid had 3%: ICMR

livemint.com:

Nipah virus is much higher than Covid-19 viral disease, said ICMR DG Dr Rajeev Bahl on Friday. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, the mortality rate of Nipah is around 60% as compared to that of Covid which was nearly 3% in the country. “Mortality among the infected is very high in Nipah (between 40 and 70 percent) compared to the mortality in Covid, which was 2-3 percent," Dr Bahl said at a press meet.

The ICRM DG said, “We got some doses of monoclonal antibody from Australia in 2018. Currently, the doses are available for only 10 patients. Globally, the monoclonal antibody has been given to 14 patients infected with Nipah virus outside India and all of them have survived." "Only phase 1 trial to establish the safety of the medicine has been done outside.

Efficacy trials have not been done. It can only given as compassionate use medicine," he added. Rajeev Bahl emphasized that all the current cases of Nipah virus in Kerala were in contact with one index patient and efforts are on to contain the Nipah outbreak.

The number of confirmed cases of the Nipah virus touched 6 with a 39-year-old man in Kerala's Kozhikode district becoming the latest victim of the virus. The Central government has dispatched an advanced team from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) to Kozhikode in Kerala. This team includes mobile units that are equipped with BSL-3 laboratories for conducting on-site testing.

At the same time, a diverse group under the leadership of Dr. Mala Chhabra has been appointed by the Union Health Ministry to assist the state in implementing public health measures to address this outbreak. The alert of the Nipah virus infection has also forced the neighboring Karnataka to release an advisory