Two healthcare workers suspected of being infected by Nipah virus in Barasat city in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal are undergoing treatment, officials said on Monday (January 12, 2026). The cases were detected at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Kalyani in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Sunday (January 11, 2026) night.
“Patients are under treatment and observation. Contact-tracing and treatment plans have already been made,” West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty said. Both patients are employed at the hospital they are being treated in. Officials have not yet disclosed the name of the facility.
Ms. Chakraborty urged people not to panic and remain alert. She also appealed to people to avoid spreading misinformation and follow hygiene precautions. The State government has also launched three helpline numbers — 03323330180, 9874708858, 9836046212 — for public queries.
Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam was present at the briefing held by Ms. Chakraborty, but both refused to share further details about the patients, citing privacy concerns.
State government officials said the two patients had travelled to Purba Bardhaman on personal work. Contact-tracing is therefore being done across North 24 Parganas, Purba Bardhaman, and Nadia districts. Officials also said the patients had not travelled outside West Bengal in the recent past and that authorities are in touch with their families.
Centre promises help
Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said a national joint outbreak response team has been deployed to support the State government in containment and public health response measures. The team includes experts from the All India Institute of Health and Public Hygiene, Kolkata; National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune; National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai; AIIMS-Kalyani; and the Department of Wildlife under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
“Given the serious nature of Nipah virus infection, which is a zoonotic disease with high mortality and potential for rapid spread, the situation is being handled with utmost priority,” a senior Health Ministry official said. The official added that the Ministry immediately contacted the West Bengal government upon receiving the information to review the situation and ensure swift and coordinated action.
Central guidelines on the disease have been shared with the State Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP). In addition, the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, has been activated to coordinate the national response.
Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda has also written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assuring full support from the Centre. “He also spoke to the Chief Minister over telephone and reiterated the Centre’s commitment to extend all necessary assistance to the State in managing the situation,” an official source said.
The Centre said it is providing comprehensive technical, logistical and operational support, including laboratory services, enhanced surveillance, case management, infection prevention and control measures, and expert guidance. The State has been advised to ensure close coordination with the deployed teams and to carry out meticulous contact tracing and containment measures.
Ms. Banerjee visited the hospital late on Sunday (January 11, 2026) night, sources said.
Nipah Virus
Nipah virus is a bat-borne disease. However, Subarna Goswami, a senior public health specialist with expertise in epidemiology, said it can also spread from pigs in certain cases. He also added that the incubation period is between four to 14 days, so all primary and secondary contacts of patients must be traced. Primary contacts are people who came in touch with the patients, while secondary contacts are people who came in touch with the primary contacts.
Dr. Goswami said the government must publish a route map of the two patients to help in contact-tracing and self-reporting by people who may have come in contact with the two patients. “Sometimes the bats sit on date palm trees which produce date sap which is consumed by people across West Bengal during winters. This can be a source of infection, so it is advisable to not have the raw sap, but boiled and processed jaggery is not a problem,” Dr. Goswami told The Hindu on Monday (January 12, 2026).
The Nipah virus has symptoms similar to influenza— fever, muscle pain, sore throat, and respiratory problems. Extreme cases can have severe respiratory distress and can also lead to convulsions. The disease was first detected in 1999 at Kampung Sungai Nipah village, Malaysia. The virus has been named after this village.
Some patients can also be asymptomatic carriers of the virus. That is why medical experts say that extensive contact tracing is crucial. Currently, there are no vaccines for this disease. But patients are quarantined and given extensive treatment under isolation.
The last outbreak of the Nipah virus was seen in West Bengal in 2007. In India, the previous outbreak of the disease was seen in Kerala in August 2025.
(With inputs from Bindu Shajan Perappadan)
