Artists from the India’s southern state of Kerala has brought out a music video to celebrate the end to Nipah outbreak, which claimed 17 lives.
The video was shot over a span of three days and all the artists featured in it provided their services for free, the video’s director, who goes by the name Regilesh Star Voice, was quoted as saying by CNN.
“During the period of the Nipah virus, a majority of the local people were feeling lonely, and everybody was afraid. We made this music video dedicated to the public to show how proud we are of having tackled this crisis,” he said.
On Sunday (1), the Kerala government declared Kozhikode and Malappuram districts as Nipah virus free, and it has been confirmed that fruit bats were the source of the deadly virus. Tests conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research confirmed fruit bats from Changaroth panchayath in Kerala’s Kozhikide district were identified as the source of the outbreak, a report by Hindustan Times quoted Union Health Minister JP Nadda as saying.
The first round of tests conducted on bat samples in May tested negative for Nipah Virus, but a second round of tests have now confirmed the source, said the report.
A scientist with ICMR told HT: “The 21 bats trapped and tested were insectivores that do not carry the Nipah Virus; 55 bats trapped in the second round included fruit bats, which tested positive for the Nipah Virus.”
More than 2,000 people were kept under observation when the virus struck in May. Most of the suspected cases were from Kozhikode and Malappuram.
