GENEVA: The risk of the spread of the Nipah virus is low, a World Health Organisation official said on Friday, even as several Asian nations tightened airport screenings in a move experts called more about reassurance than a scientific step to spread stop.

Anais Legand, an official with the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said none of the more than 190 contacts of the two people infected in India had tested positive or developed symptoms.

Speaking at a news briefing, Ms Legand noted that the risk “on a national, regional and global level is considered low” and that the WHO does not currently recommend airport screening.

Despite this, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan have put in place temperature screenings or tightened checks this week after the cases were identified in West Bengal, India. Health ministries in those countries described the measures as precautionary steps.

Public health experts, however, warned that such screenings are likely to be ineffective.

“Countries sometimes do these things just to show them flexing the muscles, telling their people that they’re doing something to protect them,” said Piero Olliaro, a professor of poverty-related disease at the University of Oxford.

Mr Olliaro noted that temperature screenings rarely worked to stop the spread of disease, pointing to studies from the Covid-19 pandemic showing they missed the majority of cases. He added that many illnesses can cause a fever, making follow-up testing for a rare disease like Nipah time-consuming.

Dr Zakiul Hassan, a Nipah specialist at the global health research institute in Bangladesh, said there is a “very low likelihood that this outbreak will cause a large international epidemic”.

Carried by fruit bats and animals such as pigs, the Nipah virus can cause fever and brain inflammation. It does not spread easily between people but has a fatality rate ranging from 40pc to 75pc. There is no cure and vaccines are still being tested.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2026