Information about the death of an employee at an anti-plague institute in Russia's Irkutsk region alarmed social networks. Rospotrebnadzor had to comment on rumors of a possible plague outbreak and quarantine. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

According to the agency, plague does not threaten residents of the region.

Death of the institute employee

Earlier, the publication "Lyudi Baikala" reported that 28-year-old institute employee Darya Shipilova died at Shelekhov hospital on the night of October 2. The publication cited a version by journalist Pavel Stepanov and the Telegram channel Mash: allegedly on September 25 the woman broke a test tube with the plague pathogen in the laboratory. However, this version received no official confirmation.

Reports of quarantine

On October 4, "Lyudi Baikala" also reported a three-week quarantine in Irkutsk city clinical hospitals No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10, the Ivano-Matryoninskaya children's hospital and at least one maternity hospital. According to the journalists, patient visits were banned, but transfers of belongings and food were allowed.

The publication's sources link the restrictions to a suspected plague. At the same time, according to them, such a diagnosis is not indicated in the documents coming to the hospitals. The journalists could not confirm quarantine in all medical institutions.

Official information

According to Interfax, on October 4 the agency reported that the woman was diagnosed with pneumonia of unspecified cause. Extended studies did not reveal microorganisms related to her professional activity in her biomaterial.

"The sanitary-epidemiological situation in Irkutsk region, the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable," the Rospotrebnadzor press service said.

Among other employees, no requests regarding infectious diseases were registered over the past ten days.

Contacts

Those who had contact with the sick woman were placed under medical observation in a hospital. Among them, two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus infection were found. No pathogens of other infectious diseases were found, Vedomosti writes, citing Rospotrebnadzor.

WHO statement

Earlier, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, speaking at a press conference during the UN General Assembly session in New York, said that a new pandemic is inevitable — it is only a matter of time.

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