Pakistan becomes latest Asian country to introduce checks for deadly Nipah virus

LAHORE/HANOI/HYDERABAD (Reuters):  Authorities in Pakistan have ordered enhanced screening of people entering the country for signs of infections of the deadly Nipah virus after India confirmed two cases, adding to the number of Asian countries stepping up controls.

 

Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam have also tightened screening at airports. But an Indian official said there were no plans to introduce screening at the country's airports and said there was no sign of any outbreak.

 

The Nipah virus can cause fever and brain inflammation and has a high mortality rate. There is also no vaccine. But transmission from person to person is not easy and typically requires prolonged 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.

 

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'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.

 

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 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% to 75%, 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.