The Kerala government on Wednesday declared containment zones in seven villages of the Kozhikode district after two deaths were reported in the area due to the Nipah virus.

According to authorities, seven villages have been declared containment zones in Kozhikode district. Some schools, banks and other institutions will remain closed till further order.

The affected area in Kozhikode district witnessed two deaths due to the Nipah virus, a rare and deadly brain-damaging virus. Due to this, authorities have shut down schools and offices in these seven villages.

According to reports, more than 130 people have been tested for the virus. Two persons have been found positive for the Nipah virus, including a minor, and have been admitted in hospital. The Nipah virus is transmitted to humans after coming into contact with the bodily fluids of infected bats, people, and pigs, as per the Kerala health minister official.

As per the reports, the two people infected, including a minor, are from the same family who lost two lives. 

According to officials, the federal government’s team, including the National Virology Institute arrived in Kerala today to conduct further testing in the cases to understand it further.  

In 1999, this Nipah virus came to notice for the first time in Malaysia and Singapore, which affected pig farmers and others who came in close contact with pigs. It is one of the dangerous viruses that damage the brain, which leads to the death of affected people.  

According to reports, there have been three more outbreaks took place in the past in Kerala since 2018. A young man who tested positive for the first time infected his family members too and later when he was admitted to hospital with fever and cough also infected other patients. 21 out of twenty three infected people lost their lives to the deadly virus.

There are parts of Kerala which have been considered the most sensitive areas globally for outbreaks of the virus as deforestation and urbanization in the state have ended the distance between people and wildlife, as per the reports.  

Malayalam actor Aparna Nair was found hanging at her residence in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, police said on Friday. The 33-year-old actor was living with her husband and two children.   

According to police, the cine-serial actor has worked in a few movies and several serials, Nair was found hanging inside her room at her home near Karamana last night.

According to police, the incident occurred around 7:30 pm on August 31. Police received the information about the incident from a private hospital where she was admitted after she was found dead at her residence. Aparna is survived by her husband and their children, as per police.

As per the police officer, they received the information from the hospital about the incident and filed a case for unnatural death.  

Police further said it might be a case of suicide and a matter of investigation. The family’s issues may be the reason for this extreme step. Police have launched an investigation into the matter.

Aparna Nair in the initial days of her career, worked in Nivedyam in 2007. She was launched by filmmaker Lohithadas in the film. She made her career with great performances in TV shows such as Chandanamazha, Maithili Veendum Varun and Atmasakhi.

She never looked back in her career and worked in prominent movies like Chayamukhi with superstars Mohanlal and Mukesh. She made her Tamil debut with Edhuvam Nadakkum and played the role of Pooja in the year 2009. The deceased actor has worked in over 30 films and was last seen in a short film in 2022.

Recently, the news of Art Director Nitin Desai shocked the nation. Desai was found dead at his ND Studio in Khalapur Raigarh. Several reports have suggested that he had taken a loan from a bank of Rs 250 crore. He took the extreme step because of the financial crisis, which was going on for many days.

A shocking case has been reported from Kerala’s Ernakulam district, where a 5-year-old girl was raped and murdered by a man. Kerala Police on July 30 posted an apology after failing to rescue a minor girl.

Kerala police held an overnight search for a missing five-year-old girl ended with the recovery of her body from a dump site in the state’s Ernakulam district.

A man who had recently moved to the victim’s building a few days ago sexually assaulted and strangled the minor girl to death after kidnapping her.

A search operation by police on Friday night led to the recovery of the minor’s body dumped in a sack in a marshy area behind a local market in nearby Aluva. The girl went missing on Friday and the man was arrested later in the day.

Sorry daughter, Kerala Police said in a tweet.

The post reads in Malayalam, our efforts to bring her alive to her parents were unsuccessful. The suspect who kidnapped the child was arrested.

A police official quoting the autopsy report, the five-year-old child was raped and strangulated to death.

The girl was a daughter of a couple hailing from Bihar who went missing on Friday evening and the accused was arrested a day later.

Police arrested the accused labourer hailing from Bihar with the help of CCTV visuals, the accused was staying in a room on the first floor of the building where the child’s family had been residing.

Initially, police found it difficult to interrogate the accused and gather details as he was intoxicated. He confessed to his crime on Saturday.

We received the complaint at 7:10 pm and an FIR was registered before 8 pm on Friday. Our team checked the CCTV visuals and found the child was with the labourer. We apprehended him at 9:30 pm itself. However, he was in an inebriated state and the child was not with him, Ernakulam Rural SP, Vivek Kumar said.

The opposition Congress came down heavily on the state police and alleged lapses on their part in tracing the child. However, police said that the accused was nabbed within an hour after the police were informed about the crime.