Russia Says It Wasn't Plague. So Why the Quarantine?

So the health authorities in Siberia's Irkutsk Region have placed nearly two hundred people under medical observation after a laboratory worker died from plague, according to media reports and a statement from the regional leader on Friday.

Uh, Alexey, the head of the neighboring republic, confirmed that a woman had died from an unspecified form of the plague.

Irkutsk officials had previously described the illness only as a particularly dangerous infection.

Citing information from Russia's consumer watchdog that I cannot pronounce, the, uh, governor said that the woman had not visited the republic and that her infection was unrelated to the region.

He wrote on social media that there is no plague outbreaks in the republic, including in the areas bordering Mongolia.

The woman was only identified by the name Daria, and that she was a twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute.

She reportedly told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples for testing.

She was later hospitalized on Tuesday with symptoms of severe pneumonia in Shelekhov, a town near the regional capital of Irkutsk.

She was placed on a ventilator and died on Thursday, according to news reports.

The regional hospital was placed under quarantine pending an assessment by a special commission.

At least one hundred and ninety-seven people who have been in contact with her were reportedly placed under medical isolation, including more than a hundred in a hospital ward.

Authorities canceled planned public events in Irkutsk, while law enforcement reportedly opened a criminal investigation into potential health safety violations resulting in death.

The regional governor urged the public to remain calm after a meeting with local people to coordinate emergency containment measures.

So what is the West saying about this situation? Well, the US says it's closely monitoring the situation after the death of a laboratory worker who may have been exposed to pneumonic plague.

They said that almost two hundred people who had been in contact with the researcher were now being observed from reports of this regional leader, which is what we covered in the last media report.