A 25-year-old nurse recovering from Nipah virus infection died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Barasat in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Thursday, a senior state health department official said. The nurse, a resident of Katwa in East Burdwan district, was in a coma for several weeks.
The 25-year-old first developed symptoms in early January after returning home on December 31 for the New Year holidays. (Image for representation)The 25-year-old first developed symptoms in early January after returning home on December 31 for the New Year holidays. Initially admitted to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, he was later shifted to a private facility in Barasat as his condition deteriorated.
Her illness developed a few days after a male colleague exhibited similar symptoms. Nipah infection was confirmed in both cases after testing on January 11. Both nurses went into a coma and required ventilator support. Although the male nurse gradually recovered and was discharged about a week ago, his condition remained unstable.
“Of the two Nipah positive cases reported from West Bengal on January 11, 2026, a nurse who was critically ill and under intensive care died today due to cardiac arrest at the hospital where she was undergoing treatment,” health department officials said.
“Currently there are no active Nipah cases in the state,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed the risk of widespread infection as low. “In the past few weeks, three cases of Nipah, two in India and one in Bangladesh, have made headlines and raised concerns about a widespread outbreak,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva. WHO has assessed the risk of regional and global spread of Nipah virus and found it to be low, he added.
