A small outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus in India has prompted health alerts across Asia – including screening of inbound passengers in Hong Kong – because of the disease’s high fatality rate. Thankfully there are factors so far against the virus’ spread beyond Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal. Nipah has a mortality rate of 40 to 75 per cent, with no treatment or vaccine available for people or animals. Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) stresses that the risk of the Nipah virus spreading from India remains low. Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, head of the centre’s communicable disease branch, said authorities had stepped up surveillance as a precautionary measure.