Russia downplays plague reports as Trump offers US help
Donald Trump said the US was closely monitoring the situation after pneumonic plague killed a worker at an anti-plague institute in Siberia.
MOSCOW: Russia sought to play down reports that a lab technician had died from plague on Monday, while U.S. President Donald Trump offered American assistance in monitoring the situation. The news of 28-year-old Darya Shipilova's death from pneumonic plague stirred concern. Russian media reported she may have contracted the disease from a broken test tube at the anti-plague institute in Siberia's Irkutsk region, with about 200 people potentially exposed under quarantine.
However, Russian officials maintained postmortem tests showed no signs of plague, with the institute's sanitary-epidemiological status deemed stable. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov urged people to trust Rospotrebnadzor's official statements over rumors. Plague can take several forms, with pneumonic being the most contagious and potentially fatal if untreated.
The incident has caught U.S. attention following the COVID-19 pandemic, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating Washington is closely monitoring the situation but sees no cause for alarm.
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