Airports in Asia reintroduce Covid-style health checks amid Nipah virus breakout
Airports have begun rolling out Covid-style health checks amid a possible outbreak of the Nipah virus in India.
Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan are now monitoring passengers for symptoms or stepping up cleaning in a bid to prevent Nipah from jumping borders.
Two nurses in Barasat, West Bengal, were sickened by the virus in late December after a patient died of an unknown disease.
One is in critical condition and the other is in a coma, according to local media.
Health officials are now monitoring as many as 200 people possibly exposed to the virus, with 100 quarantined in a hospital.
In response, hundreds of passengers from India are now having to undergo screenings before entering some Thai airports.
What is the Nipah virus?
Nipah is a rare brain-damaging virus that resides in fruit bats across South and Southeast Asia.
Symptoms include flu-like symptoms, such as fevers, body aches and vomiting, which can worsen to respiratory syndrome and brain inflammation
There is no vaccine or cure and mortality rates can be as high as 75%. Some survivors exhibit neurological effects, such as different personalities.
The disease spreads to humans through contact, like eating fruit or sap contaminated by the urine or saliva of infected fruit bats
It was first identified during an outbreak in 1998 among pig farmers in Malaysia, where it killed over 100 people.
Nipah has long been considered a possible epidemic threat to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Disease control checkpoints were installed at Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports on Sunday.
Airport staff screened 332 travellers aboard two flights from Kolkata yesterday, according to the BBC.
Similar measures have been introduced at Phuket Airport, which offers a direct flight to Kolkata’s international airport in West Bengal.
If they show Nipah symptoms, such as a high fever, they may be quarantined.
Travellers may be given a ‘Health Beware Card’ upon landing, warning them to seek medical attention if they exhibit symptoms.
Public parks and wildlife areas have also been ordered by the government to toughen screenings for people entering caves.
‘Don’t hunt, don’t forage, don’t eat,’ officials said.
Thai prime minster Anutin Charnvirakul said today that no Nipah cases have been found in the country.
Nepal’s government has imposed prevention measures at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and other border points.
Hospitals must flag suspicious cases to officials and health desks are screening travellers.
Taiwan, meanwhile, is set to upgrade the Nipah virus to a Category 5 notifiable disease, the highest classification.
While some reports say the number of confirmed cases is as many as five, an infectious disease specialist told the ANI news agency this isn’t true.
Dr Sayan Chakraborty said: ‘Earlier, it seemed like the cases might increase, but nothing like that has happened.
‘The government has done a good job. All the contact tracing, quarantining everyone, and testing have been done properly.
‘The panic that was there earlier is no longer present, and people have followed all the precautions that were advised.’
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