Mongolia ordered health-monitoring measures to be implemented on its border with Russia on Wednesday 7 October, following reports that an employee at a laboratory in Siberia had died after contracting plague and that a second case was suspected.
Moscow denies epidemic risk in Irkutsk
Moscow, meanwhile, denied that there was an epidemic risk to residents of Irkutsk and the surrounding area, and described most media reports circulating about the situation as false. Mongolia’s Health Ministry said the level of risk remained low, but instructed the relevant authorities to take precautionary measures and continue monitoring and surveillance on an ongoing basis to prevent potential risks.
The ministry said border crossings in Selenge Province continued to operate normally, while health checks and monitoring were being carried out at the border. Mongolia’s decision came amid reports that a second plague infection was suspected in Siberia, after an employee at a plague research institute in the Irkutsk region died last week.
International calls for investigation into employee’s death
The reports prompted the United States, the European Union and the World Health Organisation to call on Russia to be transparent about the employee’s death and the circumstances surrounding it. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Moscow to clarify media reports that a second employee had contracted pneumonia of unknown cause.
His call came as international demands grew for official data clarifying the nature of the incident and the health status of those who had been in contact with the employee. Responding to journalists’ questions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the media were publishing a great deal of information about the incident, and that «the vast majority» of what was being circulated about the situation was false information.
Russia relies on official data and monitoring results
He urged people to rely exclusively on official statements issued by Russia’s health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor. The Russian agency ruled out any «epidemic risk» to residents of Irkutsk and the surrounding areas. It said medical monitoring of more than 90% of the people who had been in contact with the deceased employee had ended, with no health problems linked to an infectious disease recorded among those monitored.
Peskov also said he had no information about a US request to share data relating to the employee’s death. A source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday that the United States had requested the information through a confidential diplomatic communication. The European Union called on Russia to provide transparent and timely reports on the death.
The EU’s spokeswoman, Eva Hrncirova, said the bloc was in contact with experts at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, stressing that European authorities were following the situation very closely. The Russian news outlet People of Baikal reported on Friday that the deceased employee, 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, may have contracted pneumonic plague after a test tube broke.
Other media reports also suggested a possible link between her death and a laboratory accident at the facility where she worked. The outlet said that up to 200 people who may have been in contact with Shipilova had been placed in quarantine.
Russian authorities said, however, that the cause of death had not been confirmed, while Rospotrebnadzor denied the authenticity of a document circulating online that referred to the introduction of special measures. Plague is a bacterial disease that can occur in several forms, including pneumonic plague, which is the most infectious form and can spread through the respiratory system. Bubonic plague is transmitted by infected fleas.
