By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2026-10-06 23:05:48 | Updated at 2026-10-06 23:49:17
44 minutes ago
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Russian officials have been accused of covering up details of a reported plague outbreak in Siberia, after official travel warnings to the affected zone were deleted hours after being published.
On Oct. 3, officials in Baikalsk in the Irkutsk region urged residents not to travel to the nearby town of Shelekhov, where a scientist reportedly died of pneumonic plague over the weekend.
The lab technician, 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, had been working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East when she fell sick after reportedly dropping a test tube containing the deadly pathogen.
But the travel warning was deleted just two hours later, according to the independent media outlet, People of Baikal.
The pro-government television channel REN TV also deleted five posts about lockdowns related to the plague, the outlet reported.
It was reported earlier that Shipilova may have fallen ill after returning from a trip to Buryatia, on the border with Mongolia.
Alexei Tsydenov, a regional official, had earlier put out a statement saying that Shipilova had died of the plague, but hadn’t traveled to Buryatia.
He later amended the post to say that the woman had “possibly died of plague.”
On Tuesday, Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s health watchdog, said no plague cases had been detected among the 187 staff who had come into contact with Shipilova in the past 10 days.
“This included identifying the widest possible circle of individuals who had been in contact with the patient and arranging for them to be placed under medical observation in hospital with daily laboratory tests,” the watchdog said.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization said that Russia had told it there were no plague cases in Irkutsk, although it was unclear if this meant that Moscow was saying Shipilova’s death was unrelated to plague infection.
“Laboratory testing identified two cases of Covid-19 and two cases of rhinovirus [common cold] infection,” the statement read.
“No other infectious disease pathogens were detected among the contacts,” the statement continued, without any mention of the word “plague.”
Irkutsk’s governor, Igor Kobsev, said on Monday that no “microorganisms linked to the employee’s professional activities were detected” in her body.
Regional health authorities also branded on Tuesday as “fake” news, reports that quarantine measures had been put in place in the area.
“No such decisions have been made at this time,” the statement read.
Local officials have also rejected calls from President Trump to provide help to Russia.
The President told reporters on Monday that the United States would do what it could to help, while the White House said it is monitoring the situation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a harder line, saying that even though there is “very limited travel between the US and Russia,” if “something like that gets out, it could quickly spread.”
It comes as some of Russia’s neighbors in Central Asia have stepped up quarantine measures in the wake of the reported outbreak.
The website for the Anti-Plague Institute says it was founded in 1934 “as a scientific and operational body for combating plague,” with its scope of responsibility expanding over the years to include “other highly dangerous diseases” including anthrax and cholera.
With Post wires.
