Indian state of Kerala hailed as leader in fight against epidemics
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Nurses wearing hazmat suits, schools and stores closed and towns under lockdown: this familiar scenario has just played out again in the state of Kerala, in southern India. The cause is not a new wave of Covid, but the Nipah virus: the third such outbreak to hit the state in five years. In 2018, 17 people died out of 18 who were infected. Despite this high mortality rate, with each epidemic – Nipah, Zika or Covid – the state of Kerala is held up as an example for its handling of zoonic virus outbreaks. So what is this "Kerala model" based on? Our correspondent reports.