Zakariya gets admitted to a Government hospital. Pradeep, Akhila (Nurse) follows him soon after. They are all affected by high fever and breathing trouble. More patients get admitted with the same symptoms in the next few days. Isolation wards are created and the affected people are quarantined. Sounds too familiar with the 'Corona Breaking' that we see every minute on news channels?

When a patient (Sister Akhila) is dead, her body is not handed over to her relatives to contain the spread. Nipah started off from an individual, it then reached the bystanders and now it is on its way to a community spread.

The state comes into lockdown and it is discussed whether it is a weaponized attack from terrorists or drug mafia. You could think if we are talking about the COVID-19 outbreak which has shaken the entire world and its economy. No, we are not. Then what else?

Nipah virus. One of the top 10 priority diseases of the World Health Organization. It could be transmitted from an animal to a man or between human beings. There is no vaccination and no treatment protocols. Kerala was severely affected by this deadly virus in 2018 and a movie called 'Virus' based on this Nipah outbreak was directed by Aashiq Abu.

The movie begins with the dialogue "We are short of ventilators. What do we do now?" and you are on the edge of your seat right from the word go. 

The hospital functionaries find it extremely difficult to find a place for cremating the bodies of the people who are dead due to Nipah. People at the crematorium are afraid as the disease could spread to them. Every scene in this movie (that talks about Nipah) reminds us of our current situation due to Coronavirus and the striking resemblance could be felt even more when you watch the film.

The scene where Tovino Thomas, the District Collector explains the serious repercussions of this disease to ambulance drivers and convinces them to take up this unusual challenge is a highlight. 
 
In movies like this, we wouldn't see the lead characters (especially the heroine) getting affected by such serious diseases. But here, Madonna Sebastian too is infected with Nipah and she is quarantined. That's the beauty of the Malayalam cinema for you. The pain of the isolated people and their families is beautifully shown. 

A character named Unnikrishnan, who tests positive for Nipah, goes to boar hunting and eats game meat. It is then assumed that Nipah spreads from the fruit-eating bats. Unnikrishnan is careless, drinks too much and a police officer gets infected while checking on him. Unnikrishnan also sits on an ambulance in which Zakariya is taken to the hospital. A lot of such scenes throughout the film show how negligence could cause greater harm, like what we witness through Corona today.

A total of 21 people die owing to the spread of Nipah. An emotional Health Minister (Actress Revathy) declares in the climax that Kozhikode and Malappuram are free of the Nipah virus finally and this implies that the two districts were on complete lockdown for some time. And the entire country is in lockdown now to prevent from Corona.

The following words are displayed on the screen once the film gets over:

"8 months after the Nipah virus outbreak, Kerala got its first Institute of Advanced Virology. Nurse Lini who lost her life serving patients was honored by the WHO. One of the two Nipah survivors (a 19-year-old) says she wants to be a nurse". 

Kerala has fought a similar disease with courage, conviction, and humanity just two years ago. Why can't we? Watch this film and gain much-needed determination, which is the need of the hour to fight COVID-19 together but with social distancing.