THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Five more people, including a minor, tested positive for Zika virus in the state, taking the total reported cases of the infection to 35, of which 11 are active, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Saturday.
One of the positive cases was reported from Ernakulam, the minister said and added that the person concerned was a health worker in Thiruvananthapuram.
Till now all the cases of Zika have been reported from the state capital.
The virus was confirmed in tests conducted at the Virology Lab of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Alappuzha and the Microbiology Lab at Coimbatore, the minister said in a release.
On Friday, a meeting was held by state Revenue Minister K Rajan and George on working together, along with the Local Self Government department, for preventing spread of communicable diseases and to strengthen the sanitation committees at the ward level.
