Overview
- Five infections have been confirmed in West Bengal, starting with two nurses at a Barasat private hospital and followed by a doctor, another nurse, and a health staff member.
- Roughly 100 people have been ordered to quarantine at home, with about 180 contacts tested and 20 high‑risk contacts placed under tighter monitoring according to state officials.
- The initially infected male nurse is improving while the female nurse remains in critical condition in intensive care, and later cases were moved to Kolkata’s Beleghata infectious diseases hospital.
- The Union health ministry has activated a joint outbreak response team and issued protocols to state surveillance units as West Bengal expands testing and isolation measures.
- Investigators collected RT‑PCR samples from bats at Kolkata’s Alipore Zoo to assess potential spillover sources, reflecting the virus’s known reservoir in fruit bats and the absence of any approved vaccine or specific treatment.