Australia Will Not Tighten Border Controls for Now

Health Minister Mark Butler has revealed that Australia will not tighten border control in the meantime amid concerns over the Nipah virus.

This comes as a number of Asian nations have tightened the health screening at airports to combat the potential spread of the disease.

Australia Is Monitoring the Nipah Virus

According to the health minister, Australia is keeping a close eye on the developments regarding the Nipah virus cases.

“We don’t have any advice at the moment to change our existing protocols for sick travellers who arrive in Australia,” he said in an interview with ABC’s “Radio National.”

There already are protocols for that, but we’ll continue to watch the situation closely,” the minister added.

ABC News’ report also quotes Sanjaya Senanayake, who is the associate professor of medicine at the Australian National University.

Dr. Senanayake noted that the virus has been known since 1999.

“It’s something we’ve known about for a long time, and we have outbreaks every year in that region of Asia and we haven’t panicked before, so we shouldn’t panic now,” said Dr. Senanayake.

Nipah Virus Cases in West Bengal, India

Two cases of the Nipah virus have been confirmed in West Bengal, India. This led to numerous countries in Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nepal, to strengthen health measures at their respective airports.

According to the January 19 update of the World Health Organization (WHO), both individuals who tested positive are nurses. One nurse is male, while the other is female. They work in the same hospital.

“As of 21 January, the male patient is recovering, while the female patient remains in critical condition,” WHO said.

No additional cases have been detected as of January 27, it added.