KOZHIKODE: Kozhikode Chathamangalam panchayat where a 12-year-old boy died of Nipah virus, will be closed completely, said panchayat president Abdul Gafoor. This is as part of preventing Nipah. However, permission will be given to exams and essential services, he said.

The review meeting decided to continue with the existing restrictions until further notice. The collector had passed an order making the entire panchayat as containment zone. The panchayat is being closed as part of it. Police said strict restrictions will be enforced in the panchayat.

Meantime, the government said 48 of those in contact with the boy dead were in the high-risk category. The sample test results of his close relatives including his parents have been obtained. The results sent by the Pune Virology Lab were negative. The boy’s mother had fever and she is fine now and the others who showed other symptoms do not have significant illness.

The central team had visited the boy’s home on Sunday itself and took samples of the rambutan suspected to have caused the disease. Samples were collected from the animals. There was the presence of bats near the rambutan tree. The health minister said that a colony of bats was found in Iruvanjippuzha near here.