Russian officials say 'situation under control' after plague reports

Russian officials on Monday downplayed reports that a laboratory technician in Siberia had died of plague, insisting the situation was under control and that post-mortem tests had not found traces of the disease.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin (C) visits the Irkutsk Aviation Plant in Irkutsk on July 24, 2026.

Reports on Friday that a 28-year-old woman named Darya Shipilova, who had been working for the anti-plague institute in Siberia's Irkutsk region, had died of plague sparked alarm.

The news outlet People of Baikal, citing unnamed sources close to the regional security services, said she may have contracted pneumonic plague from a broken test tube.

Other media reported a possible link between her death and a lab accident at the facility.

But Irkutsk regional governor Igor Kobzev said Monday that a special expert commission inspection in the region had found that "the cause of death was pneumonia of undetermined etiology".

Source: Citizen Digital