Rubio Calls on Russia to Clarify Suspected Plague Case

Russian authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday that there were no reported cases of plague in Irkutsk, a Siberian city, where a laboratory worker at a plague research institute passed away last week. Initially, Moscow had stated to the WHO that they were investigating whether pneumonic plague was the cause of the worker's death.

Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the UN health agency, declared during a Geneva press briefing, "No case of this dangerous disease has been recorded in the city of Irkutsk."

Russian officials also informed the WHO that they had identified individuals who had contact with the deceased worker, and test results for dangerous infectious pathogens were negative. In response, Rubio, the US Secretary of State, urged Russia to provide more information about the incident. "I think it's incumbent upon Russia to obviously share more information with the world," Rubio told reporters in Iceland.

"We're watching it very closely, hour by hour." He added that the US had measures available to assist Russia if the situation turned out to be more serious than what has been acknowledged so far, but emphasized the need for Russia to provide more information first. US President Donald Trump had previously declared on Monday that the US would provide support, noting that the outbreak posed a "big problem for Russia."

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