Kremlin tells Russians to ignore ‘rumors’ of a possible plague outbreak in Siberia. U.S. and EU officials say they’re monitoring the situation.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Russians to rely solely on official information about a possible plague outbreak in the Irkutsk region.
Russian officials are urging residents to disregard rumors of a potential plague outbreak in Siberia's Irkutsk region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the official source of information is Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's national public health and consumer protection agency. The crisis began when an employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute passed away at a Shelekhov hospital, possibly from pneumonic plague.
However, Rospotrebnadzor later clarified that the woman had pneumonia of an unknown cause. A social media post urging people to avoid traveling to Shelekhov was quickly removed. On October 4, a news outlet reported that several Irkutsk hospitals were placed under quarantine, though this claim was unconfirmed. Despite these developments, U.S. and EU officials stated they are aware of the situation and are closely monitoring the situation in Irkutsk.
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