Newsletters
Russia said Thursday that it had completed precautionary measures and ended medical monitoring of all contacts of a Siberian lab worker whose death sparked fears of a plague outbreak, after nearly 5,000 tests found no dangerous pathogens.
"Medical monitoring of all contacts has concluded," Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said in a statement on Telegram. "No health issues related to infectious disease were detected."
The case drew global attention, with the U.S., the EU and the World Health Organization (WHO) pressing Moscow for transparency amid reports the 28-year-old worker died of pneumonic plague, the most contagious form of the disease.
Russia has not confirmed the woman died of plague. Kobzev said she had contracted "community-acquired pneumonia" and had been vaccinated against the dangerous infections she handled, Bloomberg reported.
"The sanitary-epidemiological situation in Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable," Kobzev said, referring to the town where the woman was reported to have died.
Health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said no incidents involving pathogenic microorganisms were found at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute and that safety procedures were followed.
"There are no epidemic risks to the population of the city of Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region," it said.
Exiled news outlet People of Baikal reported last Friday that the worker, identified as Darya Shipilova, died of plague, possibly after breaking a test tube.
Asked about reports of a second case, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "The vast majority of what the media is reporting regarding this situation is false information."
Rospotrebnadzor called social media reports of a second illness "incorrect."
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Moscow to clarify "media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause." The WHO assessed the risk as moderate to low for the Irkutsk region and very low for Europe.
Asked if a bioweapon was involved, U.S. President Donald Trump said: "We don’t think so. We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so."
Mongolia said it was stepping up health surveillance at its border with Russia.
In Shelekhov, residents told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that a lack of official information had fueled rumors.
"There’s so much information that I no longer know what to believe or who to listen to," said Oksana, 35, who spent four days quarantined in a maternity ward.
"In reality, nobody is telling us what actually happened," said Tatyana, 66, as Russia’s all-clear failed to fully settle fears of a plague outbreak.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
