West Bengal on Nipah alert as two nurses test positive; hospitals activate isolation wards and PPE protocols

Key facts

• Two nurses from a private hospital in Barasat, North 24 Parganas, have tested positive for Nipah virus and are on ventilator support due to severe lung and brain infection (encephalitis).
• All government and private healthcare units must immediately report patients with high-grade fever, acute respiratory distress, or encephalitis to the state health department.
• Major private hospitals like CMRI and Manipal Hospital have activated dedicated isolation wards and conducted mock drills following Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and West Bengal Health Department guidelines.
• The Union Health Ministry has deployed the National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT), led by All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, to assist the state.
• Nipah virus has two known strains—NiV-Malaysia (NiV-M) and NiV-Bangladesh (NiV-B)—and the strain in West Bengal is yet to be confirmed.