Trump said he plans to speak with Putin - Kremlin says this has not yet been "agreed"

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would soon speak with Kremlin head Vladimir Putin about the death of a laboratory assistant at a research center studying plague in Siberia. UNN reports this, citing the BBC.

Details

"For now, we are engaged in very deep discussions," Trump said, adding that he would be able to report on his talks with Putin, "probably," on Thursday, October 8.

Russian officials say they are investigating the cause of the 28-year-old woman's death. They say that everyone who came into contact with the victim tested negative and have not confirmed that the suspected illness was pneumonic plague—a serious lung infection often described as the most virulent form of plague.

What the Kremlin said

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, as quoted by Russian media, said that "if the United States takes the initiative for a conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the conversation will be promptly arranged."

He added that "for now, a telephone conversation between the presidents has not been substantively agreed upon."

What the WHO said

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Russia to be transparent.

"Timely, complete, and transparent information-sharing in accordance with international health regulations is important for clarifying contradictory reports and ensuring an accurate assessment of potential risks to public health," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

According to the WHO, pneumonic plague has a very short incubation period—sometimes as little as 24 hours—and can be fatal if it is not diagnosed and treated in time. Symptoms include shortness of breath and coughing, often with bloody sputum.

Reports first emerged on Friday that nearly 200 people had been placed under observation in the Irkutsk region of Siberia following the death. The laboratory assistant, identified in Russian media as Darya Shipilova, reportedly fell ill several days earlier.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that she fell ill after breaking a test tube containing a pathogen at the anti-plague institute in Siberia where she worked, or after traveling to a region where plague occurs naturally among wild rodents.

But Russian officials played down these reports. Russia's health authorities said that the woman died from "pneumonia of undetermined etiology."

Persistent speculation about the laboratory assistant's death has sparked controversy between Russia and the United States, including questions about possible spread beyond Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States has "measures" to help Russia if the situation turns out to be more serious than claimed.

The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, has been found among rodents such as marmots in the area.

In the 14th century, when plague was known as the "Black Death," it wiped out up to half of Europe's population.

It was precisely in response to a plague outbreak in the 1920s, a little more than 100 years ago, that the anti-plague institute in Siberia was founded.