Symbolic imageRussia denies plague as Siberian lab worker's death prompts quarantines and US monitoring
A 28-year-old worker at Irkutsk's anti-plague institute has died, and local media report suspected pneumonic plague. Russian authorities say the cause was pneumonia of unknown origin.
The health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said samples from Daria Shipilova showed no microorganisms linked to her work, and that a commission found no lab accident. It called the situation in the Irkutsk region stable. On Monday, 5 October, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told people to rely on the agency and ignore rumours. The outlet People of Baikal reports that up to 200 contacts are under observation and several Irkutsk hospitals are quarantined, but only the quarantine at the Shelekhov hospital is officially confirmed. Unconfirmed reports say she was infected when a test tube broke.
Deleted posts fuel doubt
According to People of Baikal, the Baikalsk administration told residents on Telegram to avoid Shelekhov and deleted the post two hours later. The head of Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, edited his post to say the woman had "possibly died of plague", and the channel Ren TV removed several posts, Meduza and the New York Times report.
Washington says it is watching
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is monitoring "closely" but sees no cause for alarm. President Donald Trump said the US would help Russia, and the State Department urged Moscow to share accurate information quickly and transparently.