{
  "id": 12389672,
  "title": "Russia tells WHO there are no plague cases in Siberian city",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/russia-tells-who-there-are-no-plague-cases-in-siberian-city-12389672",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-06T13:57:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/world/20261006/russia-tells-who-there-are-no-plague-cases-in-siberian-city"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "GENEVA — Russian authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday that there are no plague cases in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, where a lab worker at a plague research institute passed away last week, according to a WHO spokesperson. Moscow, which is obligated to respond to WHO inquiries within 24 hours under international health guidelines, had previously indicated to the WHO that they were investigating if pneumonic plague was the cause of the worker's death. The Russian government stated in an official reply to the WHO, read by WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier at a press conference in Geneva, that no instances of this deadly disease have been documented in Irkutsk. They also informed the UN agency that they have identified the individuals in contact with the deceased and that test results for hazardous infectious agents came back negative. It remained unclear to Reuters whether they had also examined the lab worker and if they could rule out plague in her case. The Russian diplomatic delegation to the UN in Geneva had not yet responded.",
  "summary": "GENEVA — Russian authorities told the World Health Organization (WHO) 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…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Winnipeg Free Press",
        "title": "How Russia and the world are responding to a possible case of pneumonic plague after lab worker dies",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/how-russia-and-the-world-are-responding-to-a-possible-case-of",
        "published": "2026-10-06T12:16:56.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "Russia tells WHO there are no plague cases in Siberian city",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/russia-tells-who-there-are-no-plague-cases-in-siberian-city",
        "published": "2026-10-06T12:57:02.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "MedPage Today",
        "title": "How Russia and the World Are Responding to a Possible Case of Pneumonic Plague",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/how-russia-and-the-world-are-responding-to-a-possible-case-of-12408509",
        "published": "2026-10-06T14:26:13.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}