Russia Rejects ‘Plague’ Concerns Following Lab Worker Death

By Danial Martinus • 08 Oct 2026 in News

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Russian health authorities have ruled out concerns about a potential outbreak following the mysterious death of a 28-year-old plague lab worker in Siberia.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for more transparency regarding investigations into the death, along with unverified reports of a second death at the facility.

WHO estimates public risk to be low

According to Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s health watchdog, precautionary measures are already winding down after it found no risk of an epidemic and shared all its information with the WHO.

None of the individuals who had come in contact with the deceased worker, Darya Shipilova, were infected with the plague. Nearly 5,000 lab tests had failed to detect any dangerous pathogens, and 90% of those placed in quarantine have already been released.

Rospotrebnadzor shared that Shipolova had already been vaccinated prior to her death, which would have made her “immune to the dangerous infections with which she worked.” She had reportedly died from pneumonia, but its cause and how she fell ill in the first place remains a mystery.

While the lack of information regarding her death might sound a little suspect, it’s important to note that the cause of individual pneumonia cases have been particularly difficult to determine in a post-COVID world.

“WHO has requested further information to clarify the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that prompted the public health measures, and media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.

“Timely, complete, and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov urged for greater caution surrounding various (unverified) news reports of a second pneumonia case at the plague lab, outright rejecting it as “false information”.