From the HERE City National Desk
The World Health Organization said Wednesday it does not have enough information from Russia to judge the public health risk after a worker at a plague research laboratory in Siberia died.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency asked Russia for details on Saturday under the International Health Regulations. Russia replied Tuesday that no plague case had recently been reported in the Irkutsk region and that about 200 contacts had been placed in quarantine.
A Russian health watchdog has said the female staffer at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute died of pneumonia of undetermined origin. It said tests on her contacts so far found no plague, only two cases of Covid and two of rhinovirus.
Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemic and pandemic official, said the agency knows the woman had fatal pneumonia and that some laboratory tests have been done but have not identified what caused it. The WHO has asked for test results and contact tracing details.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the case. On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no substantive arrangements had been made. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it is incumbent on Russia to share more information with the world.