Russia tells WHO there are no plague cases in Siberian city

Russian authorities told the World Health Organization on Tuesday that it has no cases of plague in the city of Irkutsk in Siberia, where a laboratory worker at a plague research institute died last week, according to a spokesperson for the UN health agency.

Moscow, which is required under global health rules to respond to WHO requests within 24 hours, previously told the WHO authorities were investigating whether pneumonic plague caused her death.

"No case of this dangerous disease has been recorded in the city of Irkutsk, Russian Federation," Russian authorities said in an official response to a WHO request, read out by WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier at a Geneva press briefing.


They also told the UN agency they have identified the people in contact with the deceased and that test results for dangerous infectious pathogens were negative.

Reuters could not immediately establish if this meant that they had also tested the laboratory worker and whether they could rule out plague in her case. The Russian diplomatic mission to the UN in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The WHO has previously said that the risk of plague to the general population appeared to be low.