Another country introduces health checks at border as Nipah virus outbreak grows

Nipah is a deadly virus considered a high-risk pathogen by the World Health Organization

Pakistan has implemented heightened screening protocols for all arrivals, responding to India's confirmation of two Nipah virus cases.

This decision positions Pakistan alongside a growing number of Asian nations bolstering their defences against the potentially fatal infection.

Across the region, countries including Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam have also intensified airport health checks.

In contrast, an Indian official has indicated there are no immediate plans to introduce screening at the country's airports, maintaining that there is no evidence of a widespread outbreak.

The Nipah virus is a serious pathogen, capable of inducing fever and severe brain inflammation, and is associated with a high mortality rate.

Crucially, there is currently no vaccine available. However, person-to-person transmission is not easily accomplished, typically requiring prolonged and close contact with an infected individual.

"It has become imperative to strengthen preventative and surveillance measures at Pakistan's borders," the Border Health Services department said in a statement.

"All travelers shall undergo thermal screening and clinical assessment at the Point of Entry," which includes seaports, land borders and airports, the department added.

A health worker wearing protective gear disposes of biohazard waste from a Nipah virus isolation centre at a government hospital in Kozhikode (AFP/Getty)

The agency said travellers would need to provide transit history for the preceding 21-day period to check whether they had been through "Nipah-affected or high-risk regions".

There are no direct flights between Pakistan and India and travel between them is extremely limited, particularly since their worst fighting in decades erupted last May.

In Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital's health department on Wednesday also ordered the screening of incoming passengers at Noi Bai airport, particularly those arriving from India and the eastern state of West Bengal, where the two health workers were confirmed to have the virus in late December.

Passengers will be checked with body temperature scanners.

"This allows for timely isolation, epidemiological investigation," the department said in a statement.

That follows measures by authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city, who said they had tightened health controls at international border crossings.

India downplays outbreak fears

India's health ministry said this week that authorities have identified and traced 196 contacts linked to the two cases with none showing symptoms and all testing negative for the virus.

The two infected people are health workers, with the male patient doing well and likely to be discharged from hospital soon, while the female patient remains critical and under treatment, the chief district medical officer in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal told Reuters on Thursday.

Health officials in full protective gear walk inside an isolation ward in the Indian southwestern state of Kerala after a 23-year-old was infected by the potentially deadly Nipah virus (AFP via Getty Images)

Indian health authorities have repeatedly sought to reassure people that the infection has been contained and that there is no reason to fear an outbreak. Federal health authorities also said there was no need to screen passengers at Indian airports.

"There is no outbreak, there were just two cases in one district in (West) Bengal and there is no spread," a federal health ministry official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is no consideration for screening at airports in India because there appears to be no need for it."

Asked about Indian passengers being screened at airports across Asia, the official said it was the sovereign right of countries to do what they think is best.

Nipah has a high fatality rate

Nipah is a rare viral infection that spreads largely from infected animals, mainly fruit bats, to humans. It can be asymptomatic but it is often very dangerous, with a case fatality rate of 40 per cent to 75 per cent, depending on the local healthcare system's capacity for detection and management, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus was first identified just over 25 years ago during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore, although scientists believe it has circulated in flying foxes, or fruit bats, for thousands of years.

The WHO classifies Nipah as a priority pathogen. India regularly reports sporadic infections, particularly in the southern state of Kerala, regarded as one of the world's highest-risk regions for Nipah.

As of December 2025, there have been 750 confirmed Nipah infections globally, with 415 deaths, according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is funding a vaccine trial to help stop Nipah.