The U.S. Embassy in Russia has issued an emergency message urging American citizens to “depart immediately” amid reports of a possible plague outbreak in the Irkutsk Region in Siberia. Donald Trump said he would speak with Vladimir Putin “very soon” about the matter. The European Commission told Euronews that EU countries were scheduled to discuss the suspected outbreak in Russia in a meeting on Oct. 7. Bloomberg reported, citing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, that Moscow and Beijing “maintain close communication and cooperation in the prevention and control of infectious diseases, including the plague.”
The U.S. diplomatic mission issued the warning following reports of the possible death from pneumonic plague of Darya Shipilova, a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. The embassy said it was “aware of press reports” about quarantine measures and hospital closures in Irkutsk. It also strongly advised Americans not to travel to Russia “due to the risk of wrongful detention and security concerns.”
Trump, responding to reporters’ questions, said he would talk to Putin “very soon” and that they would discuss the suspected plague-related death. Asked whether U.S. intelligence had information about the case, Trump said the United States was engaged in “very deep discussions” on the issue and would “probably” be able to say more soon.
Euronews, citing an unnamed European Commission official, reported that EU countries had scheduled a discussion of the suspected plague outbreak in Russia for Oct. 7. The issue was added to the agenda of a meeting of the Health Security Committee.
After several days of silence, Beijing also responded to reports of plague in Russia.
World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said on Oct. 6 that the WHO was closely monitoring developments in Russia. He said the official cause of death of the anti-plague institute employee had not been confirmed and that investigations into what caused her death were continuing. Lindmeier stated that the WHO, based on the information available, currently “estimates the risk to be moderate to low for Irkutsk, a low risk for the Russian Federation as a whole and very low for the WHO European region.”
Earlier, authorities in three Central Asian countries — Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan — announced tighter sanitary controls at their borders because of reports of plague in the Irkutsk Region.
As The Insider previously reported, Russian authorities say the epidemiological situation in the region is “stable” and that the anti-plague institute employee died not from plague, but from “pneumonia of unknown etiology.” At the same time those official statements were being put out, Russian media outlets began removing reports of a suspected plague case in the Irkutsk Region.
