Nipah virus is a deadly virus. ‌With a mortality rate 75 times more deadly than COVID, the virus is one of the 260 known viruses with epidemic potential. After an outbreak of Nipah virus in India’s eastern state of West Bengal, a number of countries across Asia have reintroduced COVID styled screening at borders and at airports, fearing the virus could trigger the next global pandemic. ‌The increased safety measures come after experts have scrambled to find a vaccine to the virus last month as they launched the world’s first Nipah virus vaccine trial. ‌"The mortality rate for this virus is between 45% and 75% depending on the outbreak – so this is much higher than Covid-19.