A 25-year-old nurse who had recovered from a Nipah virus infection died of cardiac arrest on Thursday at a private hospital in Barasat in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, a senior state health department official said. The nurse, a resident of Katwa in Purba Bardhaman district, had remained in a prolonged coma for several weeks.
The 25-year-old had 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, she was later shifted to the private facility in Barasat as her condition worsened.
Her illness followed days after a male colleague exhibited similar symptoms. Following tests on January 11 it was confirmed Nipah infection in both cases. Both nurses slipped into a coma and required ventilator support. While the male nurse gradually recovered and was discharged about a week ago, her condition remained unstable.
“Out of the two Nipah positive cases reported from West Bengal on 11th January, 2026, one of the nurses who was critically ill and was under intensive medical care passed away today due to cardiac arrest in the hospital where she was under treatment,” said officials of the health department.
“At present there are no active Nipah cases in the state,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has assessed the risk of wider transmission as low. Addressing a media briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “In the past few weeks, three cases of Nipah, two in India and one in Bangladesh, made headlines and caused concern about a wider outbreak.” WHO assessed the risk of spread of the Nipah virus regionally and globally and found it low, he added.
