Middle Eastern countries have banned vegetable and fruit imports from Kerala due to a Nipah outbreak. The brain-damaging virus, which hit the Indian state in early May, has killed at least 17 people. But no new cases of infection have been reported in the past few days. NEW DELHI: The agriculture minister of Kerala, which has been affected by a Nipah outbreak in the past few weeks, on Friday said it is time for Middle Eastern countries to lift their ban on fruit and vegetables from the southern Indian state as the deadly virus is “completely controlled now.” The brain-damaging virus, which hit Kerala in early May, has killed at least 17 people. But no new cases of infection have been reported in the past few days. “My request to Middle East governments is to remove the ban immediately,” V. S. Sunil Kumar, Kerala’s agriculture minister, told Arab News. “We’ve been regularly checking all blood samples. The results are negative. Now it’s completely over.” Nipah is an emerging disease spread by secretions from infected bats, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It can spread to humans through contaminated fruit, infected animals or close contact with infected people. It was first identified in an outbreak in Malaysia in 1998, followed by an outbreak in Bangladesh in 2004. There is no cure for the virus. Since the spate of infections in Kerala was reported last month, India’s government has had a multidisciplinary team in the state led by the National Center for Disease Control, with the WHO providing technical support. The WHO has not recommended any travel or trade restrictions, or entry screening related to the outbreak. And Kerala’s government has not ordered a pause on the sale or consumption of its products locally. But in the wake of the outbreak, several Middle Eastern countries have banned fruit and vegetable imports from the state. That has hurt Kerala’s farmers, who export tens of tons of pineapples, bananas and other produce daily, Kumar said. “It’s a very sad condition in Kerala,” he added. “Our main market is the Middle East… It has been a huge loss to farmers.” Kumar said he is pressing the federal government to use its diplomatic channels to “put pressure on Middle Eastern countries to remove the ban.” Sunil Sinha, principal economist at India Ratings and Research, said: “The noise created (by the outbreak and the ban) is more important than the actual impact on the quantum of exports. If this becomes a prolonged phenomenon, then it can be a problem.” This is not the first time that countries have banned fruit and vegetable imports from India. In 2014, the EU banned the import of Alphonso mangos and four types of vegetables because some consignments were contaminated by pests. That ban lasted almost a year.