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The Hindu
6 days ago
- Health
- The Hindu
BSL-3 lab at National Institute of Virology Kerala unit in Alappuzha ready, awaits certification
The establishment of a Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Kerala unit, at Kuravanthodu in Alappuzha, has been completed. Officials said the laboratory would be made operational after it receives certification from the Department of Biotechnology under the Union government. Once functional, the facility will enable Nipah virus testing and final confirmation within the State. Currently, samples should be sent to NIV Pune for final confirmation. 'The BSL-3 lab will become operational soon. The trial run commenced three weeks ago and will continue for three months. Once the trial is complete, we will apply for certification from the Department of Biotechnology. After certification, the lab will be able to conduct diagnostic testing and research for various viral diseases, including Nipah. It can also conduct diagnostics, but not research, on Risk Group 4 pathogens,' said an official. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) classifies laboratories into different categories from BSL 1 to 4 based on a combination of laboratory practices, safety equipment, and facilities. A BSL-3 lab is a high-containment facility intended for the testing and research of highly pathogenic and infectious agents. These labs include specialised safety systems and engineering controls. The NIV Kerala unit, functioning under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was initially established as a BSL-2 facility in February 2008. It operated with limited infrastructure at the Government Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha, until late 2022, when it was relocated to a newly constructed permanent facility in Kuravanthodu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the new facility in Februray 2024. At present, the unit undertakes research on various locally prevalent viral diseases, focusing on epidemiological, virological, immunological, entomological and socio-behavioural aspects. Notably, the NIV Kerala unit was among the first four laboratories in India, apart from NIV Pune, the apex institution, to be designated as a State nodal laboratory for COVID-19 testing at the onset of the pandemic.
New Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
Kerala intensifies Nipah hunt; forest department joins NIV to trace bat source
KOZHIKODE: Forest department has joined hands with the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in a mission to identify the source of the deadly Nipah virus in the state. The move comes as Kerala is grappling with another Nipah outbreak in the Palakkad and Malappuram districts. The plan is to conduct extensive tests and collect samples from bats, which have long been suspected as the primary reservoir for the virus. Forest Minister A K Saseendran has pledged the department's support, ensuring NIV officials access to the forest areas. Forest personnel will actively assist in the meticulous collection of bat samples, a critical step in understanding the virus's prevalence and transmission pathways. The chief wildlife warden has already issued directives to all circle chief conservators and DFOs across the department in this regard. Despite recurrent Nipah outbreaks in Kerala since 2018, which have often resulted in high fatality rates, the precise point of spillover from bats to humans has frequently remained unclear. The confirmed Nipah cases in Palakkad and Malappuram, with samples dispatched to NIV Pune for validation, have amplified the need for this comprehensive investigation. Previous surveillance efforts have detected Nipah virus RNA and antibodies in Pteropus medius bats (fruit bats) in affected regions. Experts from NIV highlight that bats are known reservoirs of numerous highly-infectious viruses, including Nipah, Ebola, and Marburg. The transmission of Nipah from bats to humans typically occurs through the ingestion of fresh date palm sap contaminated with Nipah virus (NiV), consumption of partially eaten fruits, or contact with infected domestic animals.
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Two more Covid cases in Kolhapur, both mild
Kolhapur: Kolhapur district reported two Covid positive cases, both mild and currently under home isolation. The two additional cases include a doctor, a working with a govt agency (42), and a female (73) from the city. "I had fever and cold. I got tested on Thursday and since then I have isolated at home. The fever went away with symptomatic treatment. There is still a loss of smell,," said the 42-year-old patient. Both the doctor and the elderly woman had no travel history. They ar eboth home quarantined. The doctor (42), however, visits hospitals and meets patients regularly as part of his job, and he might have contracted the infection from somewhere. The health department sent the samples to NIV Pune for genome sequencing, and results are awaited. In the last 15 days, Kolhapur reported five Covid positive cases, including the doctor and the elderly woman. Solapur reports one Covid patient Solapur city reported one case of a Covid patient. The patient is undergoing treatment in a private hospital.
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
No human-to-human transmission among patients with AES: Study
Kochi: A study based on surveillance data from 17 virus research labs in India found that Nipah virus (NiV) outbreaks in Kerala in 2019, 2021, and 2024 showed no human-to-human transmission among patients with acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). This was unlike the outbreaks in 2001, 2007, 2018, and 2023, where patients also had acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The two Nipah spillover events in 2024, where no transmission was observed, highlighted the need for better surveillance of ARDS cases to manage and contain outbreaks, said a recent paper in the Elsevier Journal of Infection and Public Health. The paper stated that India intensified NiV surveillance in West Bengal and Kerala, establishing a network of ten and seven trained virus research and diagnostic laboratories (VRDLs), respectively. Since Nov 2024, these laboratories initiated screening for NiV infection among cases of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) negative for other common endemic viral respiratory pathogens. This targeted approach helps to identify potential NiV cases early, even when they might be masked by similar study compared the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of AES and ARDS - predominant NiV outbreaks in Kerala to identify factors influencing transmission dynamics and examine public health interventions and their effectiveness in outbreak containment. Researchers from NIV Pune and Kerala, along with the state surveillance unit of the directorate of health services, were involved in the stated that the characteristic coughing and other respiratory symptoms in ARDS patients generate virus-laden aerosols, which, due to their smaller particle size, can travel greater distances and remain suspended in the air for extended periods, increasing the risk of inhalation and subsequent infection. This contrasts sharply with outbreaks where AES predominates, as seen in 2019, 2021, and 2024. Furthermore, the viral load and shedding patterns in AES cases may differ, potentially contributing to reduced study stated that they found the two NiV outbreaks in Malappuram with AES as the predominant clinical manifestation in July and Sep 2024. Among all close contacts screened, no secondary transmission of NiV was observed.
Mint
08-05-2025
- Health
- Mint
Mint Explainer: The official ‘data fog' on India's covid toll has finally cleared up. Here's what we know now.
New government data released after an unusual delay has finally given official estimates that could help paint the most definitive picture that was ever possible of the likely human toll of the covid-19 second wave in 2021. That year, nearly 2.1 million more Indians died than was expected based on past trends, show Mint calculations from the demographic survey Sample Registration System (SRS), whose report the government published on 7 May. Also Read: Five years since covid: how the pandemic changed the world Between 2018 and 2020, around 8.1 million Indians are estimated to have lost their lives annually. But in 2021, this figure reached 10.2 million. The difference is called 'excess deaths', a crucial metric that becomes relevant in times of large-scale unexpected loss of life. Of course, not all these deaths can be attributed to covid-19, but this is the best possible number one can get. Remember that the pandemic sent the healthcare system into chaos, making counting difficult, and critics also alleged deliberate underreporting by authorities. How does this compare with India's official toll? India's health ministry, using data from various state governments, attributed 333,333 deaths to covid-19 in 2021. The number of excess deaths that's evident now is 6.4 times higher. The ratio can be a measure of the extent of undercounting—whether deliberate or unintentional. As of 5 May 2025, the official toll since the beginning of the pandemic is 533,665. Among large states, the ratio is the worst for Gujarat (35 times), Madhya Pradesh (20 times), Bihar (14 times), Rajasthan (14 times), West Bengal (14 times), Jharkhand (13 times), and Andhra Pradesh (11 times). The chart shows the number of excess deaths in major states and how much higher they were, as compared to the actual deaths. Why did it take so long to get these numbers? We don't know. The World Health Organisation released its own excess death estimates in 2022, as did several other private agencies and researchers. The Centre had junked all of them, casting aspersions on their intent and methods. They all had estimated tolls several times higher than the official count. Also Read: Mint Explainer: Why NIV Pune study on presence of Covid virus in stool, urine samples is important This is why the government's own SRS data has been awaited all this time to close the gap in an official manner. Usually, the report is released within 24 months of the end of a calendar year. But the 2021 data has been released only now, three years after the 2020 data came out. What are excess deaths? Governments will naturally fail to capture the true toll of a pandemic like covid-19: Not all patients are tested, and defining a 'covid death" is complicated. This left the 'excess deaths" approach the best-placed method to estimate the toll. "Excess deaths" is the difference between the number of deaths in an unusual period (such as 2020 and 2021) and the number of deaths in a normal year. This can give a sense of the direct and indirect toll of a pandemic like covid-19. In the calculations in this article, we have used the 2018-2020 average as the 'normal'. What is the SRS? Before that, look at the Civil Registration System (CRS). In India, this is the report that gives the number of deaths registered in a given year. Mark the word 'registered': it's not sufficient, since it misses the deaths that weren't registered. That's why the government conducts an additional sample survey, whose results are reported through the SRS. Every year, it uses a nationally representative sample of households to estimate death rates, among other statistics. Using this and the year's population projection, one can estimate actual deaths—registered and unregistered. But how was 2020 a normal year? What did the SRS report of 2020 show? The 2020 SRS, which was released in May 2022, soon after the release of the WHO's estimates, gave a death rate of 6.0 per 1,000 population. This meant around 8.1 million deaths, which was actually down from 2019. On one hand, this was not totally unexpected, since fewer people left their homes during lockdowns and the first wave was much less deadly. On the other, this is a mysterious number, since this was nearly the same as the number of registered deaths in India that year, as per the CRS, meaning that as many as 99.9% of deaths in India got registered in 2020. What about 2021, the year that saw a devastating second wave? That's where the data fog continued for three years, prompting private researchers to try to fill the gap with indirect estimates from other sources. But most were met with rejection by the government. Also Read: The silent crisis: Pandemic learning losses that could haunt a generation The SRS report, now released, estimates that the death rate that year shot up to 7.5 per 1,000 people, from a range of 6-6.2 in 2018-2020. This translates to around 10.2 million deaths. The CRS (which, too, was released on 7 May), again reported nearly as many registered deaths, confirming that nearly all Indians are now getting deaths registered. What's next? The covid-19 pandemic is practically over, thanks to large-scale immunity both by vaccination and prior infection. But many Indian families were left reeling with the lasting impact due to the deaths of loved ones. The latest data gives us a better, official sense of how many Indians may have actually suffered. Hopefully, this will help policymaking in future healthcare crises.
