Russia issues fresh pneumonic plague update after lab worker’s death

Russia’s health watchdog on Tuesday has announced a fresh update regarding growing pneumonic plague fear that swept across the country and beyond borders.

As per the latest update, the authorities had not documented the cases of plague among people who had come into contact with Siberian plague institute laboratory worker who died on Friday.

Rospotrebnadzor, the watchdog, issued a statement citing that no infectious disease were reported “among the staff of the same plague research institute in Irkutsk over the past 10 days.”

After the extensive testing, the officials did not find microorganisms in the 28-year-old researcher Daria Shipilova’s body linked to her work.

Elena Sofina, deputy head of the Shelekhov district near Irkutsk, reported that initial fears of a dangerous diagnosis at a quarantined local hospital were unfounded.

She noted that roughly 60% of isolated individuals have already been discharged.

After Russia’s update, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday Moscow should share more information about the mysterious death of a lab worker.

"I ​think it's incumbent upon Russia to obviously ⁠share more information with the world," ​Rubio told reporters in Iceland.

"We're watching it ​very closely, hour by hour."

The pneumonic plague fears stemmed from the lab incident where the female researcher died. But Moscow claimed that Shipilova died from an “unidentified pneumonia” rather than the bubonic plague.

In the wake of these concerns, three Central Asian countries including Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan tightened border controls with Russia along with robust patrolling, sanitary quarantine and epidemiological surveillance.

Even the US also monitored the situation. A White House spokesperson said on Monday, “The Trump administration is aware of the outbreak, is monitoring it, and is evaluating possible courses of action.”