Govt job for Kerala nurse Lini's husband, Rs 10 lakh each for her children

Thiruvananthapuram: The last words written by the Kerala nurse who died of Nipah virus on Monday to her husband has moved a score of people.

Husband of nurse Lini Puthussery will be offered a government job and her two sons, aged seven and two, will be given Rs 10 lakh each, the Kerala cabinet decided on Wednesday.

Other victims of the virus will be given Rs 5 lakh each.

31-year-old Lini, who was in the team that treated the first Nipah virus victim earlier this month, wrote a touching letter to her husband during her last hours in an isolation ward at the Perambara hospital in Kozhikode, the epicenter of the Nipah infection.

"Saji Chetta, I am almost on my way. I don't think I will be able to see you. Sorry. Take care of our children properly. Our innocent child, take him to the gulf. They shouldn't be alone like our father. Lots of love..." she scribbled in the note that has been widely shared on social media.

Read: Take care of our children: Nipah virus-affected Kerala nurse in death note

Lini couldn't see her family before she died. After the family's permission, she was cremated quickly so the infection wouldn't spread.

There have been 12 confirmed cases of the Nipah virus, of which 10 have died, two are critical.

Over 90 people have been quarantined in their homes. The three who died first were all from the same family - two brothers in their early twenties and a woman relative who had been with them at the hospital.

The father of the brothers is reportedly being treated for the virus. Many bats were found inside a well of the family's home, and this is believed to be the origin of the infection.

Also Read: Nipah virus outbreak linked to Kerala well with 'many bats'

The Nipah virus or NiV infection, spread mainly by fruit bats, has symptoms like breathing trouble, brain swelling, fever, headache, drowsiness, disorientation and delirium. A patient can fall into coma within 48 hours. It travels through direct contact with a patient.

There is no vaccine for the virus yet and the treatment is "intensive supportive care".