
Authorities race to contain deadly Nipah virus outbreak in India
CBSN
New Delhi — Authorities in India's southern Kerala state are racing to contain an outbreak of the Nipah virus. The virus, which is not related to the coronavirus behind the current global pandemic and is far more deadly, killed a 12-year-old boy in Kerala over the weekend, prompting stepped-up efforts to trace his contacts. New infections have been confirmed.
The boy was admitted to a hospital a week ago with high fever. As his condition worsened and doctors suspected inflammation of his brain (encephalitis), his blood samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology, where tests confirmed a Nipah infection. He died early on Sunday. Government authorities have stepped up contact tracing efforts, identifying, quarantining and testing people who may have come into contact with the young victim. According to the state's health minister, Veena George, 188 people who came into contact with the boy had been identified by Monday. Of them, 20 were considered high-risk primary contacts — primarily his family members, all of whom were being held under strict quarantine or hospitalized.
Unprecedented footage of an elusive deep-sea creature came to light this week. On an expedition through the Southern Ocean last Christmas Day, researchers discovered the Gonatus antarcticus, a mysterious species of squid known to roam the freezing waters around Antarctica but never seen alive before in its natural habitat.

London — President Trump declared on Wednesday morning that a U.S. trade "deal with China is done." The American leader offered a few key details of the agreement reached between senior U.S. and Chinese trade representatives in London on Tuesday, but he acknowledged that both he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were both yet to formally sign off on the agreement.

Jerusalem — Israel deported activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday, the country's Foreign Ministry said, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on with 11 other people was seized by the Israeli military. Thunberg left on a flight to France and was then headed to her home country of Sweden, the Foreign Ministry said in a post on X. It posted a photo of Thunberg, a climate activist who shuns air travel, seated on a plane.