News of the death of an employee at a plague-control institute in Russia's Irkutsk region has sparked widespread discussion on social media. Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's consumer health watchdog, was forced to comment on rumors of a possible plague outbreak and the imposition of quarantine, saying residents of the region face no plague threat, the website infohub.kz reports.
Earlier, the publication Lyudi Baikala reported that 28-year-old institute employee Darya Shipilova died at Shelekhov hospital in the early hours of October 2. The outlet cited a version put forward by journalist Pavel Stepanov and the Telegram channel Mash: that on September 25 the woman had broken a test tube containing the plague pathogen in the laboratory. That version, however, has received no official confirmation.
On October 4, Lyudi Baikala also reported a three-week quarantine at Irkutsk city clinical hospitals No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10, the Ivano-Matryoninskaya children's hospital and at least one maternity ward. According to the journalists, patient visits were banned, but deliveries of belongings and food were allowed.
The outlet's sources link the restrictions to a suspected plague case. At the same time, they say, no such diagnosis is listed in the documents being sent to the hospitals. The journalists were unable to confirm quarantine at all of the medical facilities.
According to Interfax, on October 4 the agency reported that the woman had been diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown cause. Extended tests found no microorganisms in her biomaterial linked to her professional activity.
"The sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region and the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable," the Rospotrebnadzor press service said.
No other employees have sought medical help for infectious diseases over the past ten days.
People who had contact with the patient were placed under medical observation in hospital. Among them, two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus infection were found. No pathogens of other infectious diseases were detected, Vedomosti writes, citing Rospotrebnadzor.
Earlier, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, speaking at a press conference during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said a new pandemic is inevitable — it is only a matter of time.