WHO says it cannot fully assess Siberia plague case; Russia dismisses transparency calls

The World Health Organization said on 7 October that it cannot fully assess the plague situation in Russia. "We don't yet have the full picture of this event and we're not able to conduct a full risk assessment," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, according to DW. Tedros called on Moscow to clarify media reports of a second staff member at the institute with pneumonia of unclear origin, Euronews reported.

The case concerns Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, who died last week in the town of Shelekhov near Irkutsk, Euronews reported. DW reported she died of the disease and may have contracted it from a broken test tube. Russian authorities, however, have maintained since the start of the week that she died of pneumonia and that her cause of death remains "undetermined," according to Euronews.

Russia's public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said there were "no epidemic risks for the population" and that more than 90 percent of contacts had completed medical observation. It said Shipilova had been vaccinated and had immunity to the dangerous infections she worked with, and that nearly 5,000 laboratory tests detected no dangerous pathogens. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the "overwhelming majority" of media reporting on the situation was "false information" and urged citizens to rely solely on Rospotrebnadzor's official statements.

The United States, the European Union and the WHO have all called on Moscow to be transparent about the case, DW reported. A US State Department spokesperson said Washington had "officially requested additional information from the Russian government" and was in official communication with other countries, according to Euronews. Peskov said he had no information that the Kremlin had received any US official complaint.

US President Donald Trump said the death did not appear to be linked to a biological weapon. "We don't think so. We're going to find out soon enough, but we don't think so," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, according to France 24. Peskov also said he had no information about a planned call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite Trump announcing such a call was scheduled, DW reported.

Mongolia said it implemented "health surveillance and monitoring measures" at its border with Russia, DW reported. On 6 October, the WHO said the possible case posed a "very low" risk beyond Russia's borders, citing Russia's reduced contact with the rest of the world due to its war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions, according to Euronews. Euronews also reported that pneumonic plague, the most dangerous form of the disease, affects the lungs and can spread person to person through airborne droplets, and that if verified the Siberia case would be Russia's first confirmed plague infection since 2016.