Wayanad, Feb 10: A 24-year-old man from Panavally tribal settlement in Thirunnelli grama panchayat of the high-range district here has been inflicted with the Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or more commonly known as monkey fever, health department officials said.

District Medical Officer Dr Sakeena told PTI that being a seasonal fever, the health authorities have already given an alert and urged local people to remain cautious. She said the 24-year old youth has been admitted in Mananthavady medical College and is under medical observation.

His health condition is stable and no other case has been reported so far, she added.

Monkey fever is a tick-borne viral haemorrhagic fever endemic to the southern part of the country. India. The disease is caused by a virus belonging to the family Flaviviridae, which also includes yellow fever and dengue fever, which are transmitted by monkeys.

This is the first case of monkey fever reported in Kerala in the present year.

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Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.