In Russia's Irkutsk region, authorities announced the lifting of the quarantine imposed after the mysterious death of an employee of an anti-plague institute. Local authorities assure that there is no danger, although the World Health Organization still has not received enough information to assess the risks, The Moscow Times reports, writes UNN.
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The governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, said that specialists from Rospotrebnadzor had completed their inspections and found no dangerous pathogens. According to him, nearly 5,000 laboratory tests did not confirm the presence of dangerous infections.
The quarantine has been lifted. We are operating as usual
WHO is still awaiting explanations from Russia
The quarantine was prompted by the death of 28-year-old laboratory technician Daria Shipilova, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. Officially, Russian authorities cited pneumonia of undetermined origin as the cause, while a number of sources reported possible plague infection.
Following the incident, about 200 contacts were isolated, several medical facilities were placed under quarantine, and a mask mandate was introduced at a local aluminum plant.
At the same time, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the organization still does not have a complete picture of the events in the Irkutsk region and therefore cannot comprehensively assess the risks. The WHO is also awaiting explanations regarding reports of a possible second case of mysterious pneumonia.
Rospotrebnadzor denies information about a second patient. However, Russian officials have still not provided a definitive answer to the question of what exactly caused the death of the anti-plague institute employee.