A 25-year-old nurse in India has died after contracting the Nipah virus, senior health officials in the country have warned.

The Indian government had confirmed two cases of the disease, which has no cure or vaccine and is classified as a high-risk pathogen by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Various countries have introduced Covid-style checks in their airports following concerns over the virus, which is fatal to between 40 and 75 percent of people who contract it.

Passengers arriving at airports are being monitored for fever and viral symptoms, while a 'Health Beware Card' can be issued to travellers who arrive from risk areas urging them to seek immediate medical attention if they develop any of the symptoms associated with Nipah virus.

"Passengers arriving at airports are being monitored for fever and viral symptoms"

aquascoot wrote on Feb 13^th, 2026 at 6:43pm:


I seem to recall hearing the exact same thing about SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) six years ago.

20 million (at least) dead plus countless long Covid cases later and it's still going.

I imagine governments and big business are going to have to work really, really hard to convince the population that a virus (Nipah) with no treatment, no vaccine and a 40 to 75 percent fatality rate is "gone" or  "just a cold" like they've managed to do with Covid.

A public health expert says New Zealand is in its ninth wave of Covid-19.

The latest Health New Zealand figures show 50 hospitalisations and 19 deaths with the virus in the past week.

With booster uptake falling and little tracking of long Covid, experts are warning the real impact of the virus may still be underestimated.

University of Otago professor of public health Michael Baker told Morning Report that waves of Covid-19 had been a pattern seen since the Omicron variant started spreading widely in 2022.

In the past four years, there had been roughly two waves per year.

Baker said the waves weren't seasonal - being equally distributed between winter and summer.

But this wave wasn't following the pattern of a new subvariant emerging, which suggested a wane in immunity.

Baker said people were not getting booster shots and for many, it had been quite some time since they were last infected and antibodies were dropping.

It was enough to give the virus "the edge".

Baker said the virus was still New Zealand's most impactful infectious disease - equating to about 1000 deaths a year - compared to influenza which accounted for about 500.

Covid-19 was also filling up hospitals - and everyone needed to "act to reduce impact", he said.

The "disabling illness" was not being monitored at all in New Zealand which Baker said was a "gap" in tracking the virus.