nipha virus which claimed 10 lives in South India particularly in Kerala state  ,this news  created panic among the people Maharashtra Public Health Minister Dr Deepak Sawant on Tuesday said that the state did not have any patient having symptoms similar to the kind caused by the Nipah virus.

“Not a single patient in Maharashtra has been found having symptoms similar to the Nipah virus infection,” Sawant said.

He said that instructions had been given to hospitals in the state to keep an isolation ward ready as a precautionary step.

The minister said that hospitals have been asked to report to the state government if they come across people who were showing symptoms similar to the Nipah virus and had also visited or recently returned from Kerala.

Private hospitals have been told to inform the state government about such instances and also shift the patient to a government hospital.