Woman dies of rat fever in flood-hit Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 2 : A woman on Sunday became the latest victim of leptospirosis in the flood-battered Kerala, taking the death toll due to the rat fever outbreak to 15 even as Health Minister K.K. Shailaja assured that there was no need to panic.
In the past two days, eight people have died due to the disease that transmits from animals to humans. The risk of contaminating the disease is high during flooding.
According to officials at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital, the woman died on Sunday morning.
As of Sunday, 40 cases of leptospirosis were reported in the state. Kozhikode reported 28 such cases and the rest were from Alappuzha, Thrissur and Pathanamthitta.
Shailaja said there was no need to panic as the health department had taken all the necessary actions. "Every hospital is stocked with all the required medicines."
The Minister advised people in the flood-hit areas to take precautions and a course of doxycycline.
With Kozhikode reporting the maximum number of cases, a special isolation ward has been opened at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital.
With Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan leaving for medical treatment to the US, Industries Minister E.P.Jayarajan, the de facto number two in the government, told the media that elaborate arrangements had been made and medicines would be given for free to all.
According to Kerala health officials, around two million people in the state would have come in contact with the flood waters and hence all of them should take preventive care.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
