Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Symptoms of deadly Nipah virus registered in Kerela state (India). The Minister of Health of the Indian state Vina George said this, the Indian newspaper Livemint writes.

The Ministry of Health has identified 251 people in contact with a 12-year-old boy who died from the Nipah viral infection. “There are 38 people in isolation in the hospital, of which 11 showed symptoms. Samples of eight people were sent to the National Institute of Virology for testing,” said the minister.

She noted that out of 251 people who came into contact with the infected, 54 people are in the high-risk category: these are doctors, as well as the parents and close relatives of the child.

A team of medical experts examined the child’s home and area. Another team from the livestock department inspected the area. Blood and serum samples from two goats belonging to the child’s family will be screened at the National Institute for Animal Diseases of High Security in Bhopal. An area within a radius of three kilometers from the orphanage has been declared a quarantine zone.

As reported by RIA Novosti, the Nipah virus is spread by flying foxes and mice. The virus is usually transmitted to people who have eaten fruit that has been contaminated with saliva from an infected animal. The World Health Organization calls this virus one of the most dangerous in the world, there is no medicine or vaccine for it, and the mortality rate of the disease ranges from 40 to 75%. Previously, the Indian authorities reported four outbreaks of the disease - in 2001 and 2007 in West Bengal, in 2018 and 2019 - in Kerala.