2026-10-07 17:53:20Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Russia has rejected calls for transparency over the death of a lab worker from the plague in Siberia, as reports emerged of a second case of infection.

Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's public health watchdog, said it saw no risk of an epidemic following the death of a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, identified as Darya Shipilova. She died last week in the town of Shelekhov near Irkutsk.

The agency said Shipilova had been vaccinated and had immunity to the dangerous infections she was working with, and that nearly 5,000 laboratory tests had not detected any dangerous pathogens.

"More than 90% of those who had contact with him had completed medical monitoring," the agency said.

The Kremlin dismissed reports of a second suspected case of plague in Siberia, telling journalists that most media reports on the situation were "fake."

"The media reports on a lot of things. And the vast majority of what the media reports about this situation is false information," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, urging citizens to rely only on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor.

Russian authorities have claimed since the beginning of the week that Shipilova died of pneumonia and that the cause of her death remains "undetermined."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday called on Moscow to clarify the situation regarding media reports of a second staff member with pneumonia of unclear origin.


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