The top Kremlin spokesman sought to tamp down “various rumors and speculation” about reports of a possible plague outbreak in Siberia and said that Russians should only monitor statements from government sources.
“The leading agency with authority in this area is Rospotrebnadzor,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to Russian media outlet TASS, referring to Russia’s national public health agency. “And it is Rospotrebnadzor’s official statements that should be relied upon, without listening to various rumors and speculation.”
“Rospotrebnadzor is home to highly qualified professionals in this field. Let’s listen to their official statements,” Peskov added.
The statement comes as Russian health authorities said they took preventative actions after the death of a laboratory worker at the Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East near Irkutsk, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Oct. 4.
The worker was diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown origin, Rospotrebnadzor said, although officials haven’t yet confirmed the cause of her death. It’s also not clear when the worker died.
“Due to the patient’s professional activities, upon receiving information, a comprehensive set of anti-epidemic measures was immediately and fully implemented in accordance with sanitary legislation,” Rospotrebnadzor said over the past weekend.
That included finding “the widest possible circle of people who had been in contact with the patient,” the health agency said.
The hospital has been placed under quarantine, Mayor Maxim Modin said on Oct. 2, no longer admitting or discharging patients, and its laboratory halted carrying out routine tests. The hospital’s outpatient clinic kept operating as usual, he said.
On Monday, Igor Kobzev, the regional governor of the Irkutsk region, issued a statement on social media platform Telegram that testing has shown “no microorganisms related to her professional activities were found in the woman’s biopsy specimens.”
“The cause of her death was pneumonia of unknown etiology,” Kobzev added. “Importantly, no new cases of Anti-Plague Institute employees seeking medical attention have been identified in the past few days.”
The official described the “sanitary and epidemiological situation” in his region as “currently stable,” without elaborating, before he thanked the chief of Rospotrebnadzor and its staff.
An independent Russian media outlet, Lyudi Baikala, reported that as many as 200 people in the area who came in contact with the laboratory worker have been placed under quarantine. Neither Rospotrebnadzor officials and Kobzev have commented on the number of people who were placed under quarantine.
Responding to the reports, a U.S. State Department spokesman told The Epoch Times on Monday that Trump administration officials are aware of reports of “a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague” and is monitoring the situation.
“Many details have not been confirmed. We encourage Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly,” the State Department spokesman said.
The United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) describes pneumonic plague as a less common but severe form of the infection caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which is generally found in rodents, small mammals, and fleas.
“Plague can be a very severe disease in people, with a case-fatality ratio of 30 percent to 60 percent for the bubonic type, and it is always fatal for the pneumonic and septicaemic kinds when left untreated,” WHO says on its website, referring to other forms of the disease.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
English (US) · 
Turkish (TR) · 