Indian nurse infected with Nipah virus dies

​An Indian health worker who ​contracted the deadly ‌Nipah virus ​in December has died, a senior health official from the eastern state ‌of West Bengal said on Thursday.

The woman - a nurse - was one of two people in the state who were infected and ‌was being treated at a local hospital, Reuters reported ‌last month. "The woman ... who was critical, died due to cardiac arrest," Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam told Reuters.

Commonly spread to humans from ⁠infected ​bats or fruit contaminated ⁠by them, the Nipah virus can cause fever and brain inflammation ⁠and has a fatality rate of between 40% and 75%. India ​regularly reports sporadic infections, with its southern state of Kerala ⁠also regarded as one of the world's highest-risk regions for the virus.

Asian ⁠countries ​including Thailand, Singapore, and Pakistan stepped up airport screening after India confirmed the infections last month, but the ⁠World Health Organisation had said risk of the virus' spread was ⁠low. A ⁠woman also died in Bangladesh in January after contracting the virus, WHO had said.