{"id":30152,"date":"2026-02-21T03:25:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=30152"},"modified":"2026-02-21T03:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:25:35","slug":"nipah-cases-in-india-raise-regional-anxiety-but-experts-say-wider-spread-unlikely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=30152","title":{"rendered":"Nipah cases in India raise regional anxiety but experts say wider spread unlikely"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/01\/28\/017b5840-bfdf-4ed7-bc60-dae201893346_93386d56.jpg?itok=F1Ha8z7n&amp;v=1769584211\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">A small cluster of <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Nipah virus<\/span> infections reported in eastern <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">India<\/span> has sparked regional anxiety because of the disease\u2019s high fatality rate, prompting countries across Asia to tighten health screening ahead of the Lunar New Year travel rush, even as experts say the outbreak is likely to remain contained.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">That assessment follows confirmation by Indian authorities of two Nipah cases in West Bengal, but analysts have said the limited numbers, combined with the time that has passed since the infections were detected, point to a contained outbreak rather than an escalating public health threat.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The cases have nevertheless prompted precautionary measures elsewhere in the region, with <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Thailand<\/span> stepping up screening, including temperature checks and health declaration forms, at major airports for passengers arriving from West Bengal, and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Nepal<\/span> increasing monitoring at Kathmandu\u2019s Tribhuvan International Airport and along land borders with India, officials said.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Other countries have also moved to heighten vigilance. <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Cambodia<\/span> has begun screening travellers arriving from India, while <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Indonesia<\/span> has tightened health checks for incoming international passengers at Jakarta\u2019s main airport, according to official statements and regional media reports. <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Singapore<\/span> on Wednesday announced it will also screen arriving passengers from Nipah-affected areas.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">India\u2019s Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that \u201cspeculative and incorrect figures regarding Nipah Virus Disease cases are being circulated in certain sections of the media\u201d, a reference to reports citing higher case numbers at a hospital in Kolkata, and stressed that only two cases had been centrally confirmed in West Bengal since December.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It said 196 people who had come into contact with the infected individuals were asymptomatic and had all tested negative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/health-environment\/article\/3341520\/nipah-cases-india-raise-regional-anxiety-experts-say-wider-spread-unlikely?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A small cluster of Nipah virus infections reported in eastern India has sparked regional anxiety because of the disease\u2019s high fatality rate, prompting countries across&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[8912,1078,377,1390,16062,5640,2013,12977,16104],"class_list":["post-30152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-anxiety","tag-cases","tag-experts","tag-india","tag-nipah","tag-raise","tag-regional","tag-spread","tag-wider","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}