The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the risk of expansion in India of the Nipah virus, a highly lethal pathogen for which there is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment, “low” following the confirmation of two cases in the Indian state of West Bengal and the declaration of an epidemiological alert by the Indian authorities.
“India has the capacity to contain these outbreaks, as has been proven in past cases,” a spokesperson for the health agency said this Tuesday (01/27/2026) in response to the EFE agency, adding that the WHO has been in contact with local and national Indian health authorities to carry out a risk assessment and provide technical support.
The WHO source added that for now there is no evidence of an increase in the transmission of the virus between humans (other common routes of infection are through animals such as fruit bats or pigs, as well as contaminated food).
Nipah virus infection causes everything from asymptomatic symptoms to acute respiratory diseases and fatal encephalitis, with an estimated mortality rate between 40% and 75%.
Two cases confirmed in hospital near Kolkata
As recalled by the WHO, the two confirmed cases are nurses (a man and a woman, both 25 years old) from a private hospital in the town of Barasat, about 20 kilometers north of Calcutta, who began to show symptoms in the first week of December and were isolated in early January.
The National Institute of Virology of India confirmed that these were cases of the Nipah virus on January 13, and these were reported to the WHO on the night of Monday, January 26, indicated the spokesperson for the United Nations health agency.
The confirmation of the two cases has forced nearly 190 people to be placed under surveillance for having had contact with the infected.
In addition, the Indian Ministry of Health has urged to strengthen security in hospitals in the affected area, imposing the use of complete personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical staff due to fear of human-to-human transmission.
India also recorded its first human outbreaks in West Bengal (east of the country) in 2001 and 2007, when at least 50 deaths were recorded.
Since 2018, cases have been concentrated in the southern state of Kerala, where the most recent outbreak, in July 2025, caused three infections and two deaths.
Fear of the spread of the virus has spread across Asia, leading territories such as Thailand, Nepal and Hong Kong to activate screening points at some of their airports, with measures such as temperature checks and health declaration forms.
Concern in China over Nipah virus
No Nipah virus infections have been detected in China, but there are risks of imported cases, the Chinese state broadcaster reported this Tuesday. CCTVciting the disease control authority.
The epidemiological alert issued by India due to a new outbreak of the lethal Nipah virus has caused concern in China due to the proximity of the Lunar New Year holidays, a period in which hundreds of millions of internal and international displacements occur in the country.
Considered the largest annual movement of people in the Asian giant, this 40-day period known as ‘chunyun‘, will start on February 2 and will last until March 13, and registered 9,020 million internal trips in its edition last year, not counting those that were destined abroad.
The news about Nipah was one of the most talked about at the beginning of the week on Chinese social networks, where this Tuesday the first place on the Weibo trend list – similar to
However, medical professionals have called for calm and assure that China has the technological capacity to monitor the virus quickly, although they consider that the risk of an outbreak occurring in the country is quite low.
CP (efe, rtr)
