A five-year-old boy from Tamil Nadu who was bitten by a stray dog in Payyambalam in Kannur, Kerala, on May 31, has been diagnosed with rabies and is in a critical condition on a ventilator at the Kannur Government Medical College Hospital (MCH).

The boy sustained bites on the eye and leg near S.N Park. Although he was vaccinated immediately, doctors said the facial wounds allowed the virus to reach the brain.