Kerala plans ‘outbreak calendar’ to boost disease prediction and response

The Kerala government will create a calendar to map seasonal and regional patterns of disease outbreaks in the State in a bid to give the public health system’s response an added edge in the future. 

Health Minister K. Muraleedharan noted at a press conference on Tuesday (June 16, 2026) that, for one, Nipah cases are repeatedly reported in the Perambra region of Kozhikode between May and September. Curiously, some districts have reported no Shigella cases so far, notably Palakkad, he said. 

“Disease patterns might vary from time to time, but several viruses seem to follow seasonal patterns”, he said.

(Vector-borne diseases (such as dengue, malaria and chikungunya) and water-borne diseases (such as cholera and typhoid) are common during the summer and monsoon seasons, respectively.)

Mr Muraleedharan said the reasons for pathogens following seasonal and regional patterns remained unclear and were a major area of research for the government and the private sector. 

Nevertheless, he said, experts were united in believing that an outbreak calendar would give the State’s public health system greater predictive accuracy and help it better calibrate disease prevention and response. 

Monitoring cells

Mr Muraleedharan also announced district-level monitoring cells to detect, monitor, and respond quickly to outbreaks. A high-power committee headed by Dr S S Lal will advise the government on epidemic prevention and control. Sharmila Mary Joseph, Principal Secretary, will be the committee’s coordinator. 

He said the government would enlist the Animal Husbandry department’s help to prevent zoonotic diseases. He said the Food Safety Inspectorate, Local Bodies and other departments would work in lockstep to give the government’s epidemic response an added edge. He said the committee would draw on the expertise of doctors from the private and government sectors for this purpose. 

He clarified that the committee’s role was advisory and not executive. Mr Muraleedharan denied the accusation that the Health Department was obfuscating Nipah and Shigellosis figures to project a rosy picture to the public. 

On the Nipah case

He said the Government Medical College in Kozhikode had successfully treated a Nipah-positive patient who was admitted in a life-threatening condition recently. “There has been no Nipah death in Kerala. Out of the 38 persons tested for Nipah, only one was positive”, he said. 

Shigella cases

Mr Muraleedharan said Kerala has witnessed 146 Shigella cases since January 2026. However, the government had brought the mortality rate under control. Only five patients in the State, including a child, have died of Shigella so far.

Mr Muraleedharan blamed poor monsoon cleaning for the current Shigella outbreak. “I am not blaming any person. Local body elections and the Assembly polls consumed the official machinery and also the political executive”, he added.