Rospotrebnadzor said no plague was found among contacts of Darya Shipilova and that it was winding down quarantine. The WHO said it still needs the cause of her pneumonia.
Russia's health regulator said on Wednesday there was no risk of an epidemic in Siberia after a plague-institute worker died, while the World Health Organization asked Moscow for more information, Reuters reported. Authorities say 28-year-old Darya Shipilova died on Friday from pneumonia of an origin that has not been established. About 200 people were initially placed in quarantine.
Rospotrebnadzor said no plague had been detected among her contacts, that nearly 5,000 laboratory tests had found no dangerous pathogens, and that 90 percent of those quarantined had been released. It said she had been vaccinated and was therefore immune to the dangerous infections she worked with. It did not say what caused the pneumonia.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency had requested the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that prompted the public-health measures, and clarification of media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause. The WHO estimates the risk to the general public as low on current information.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had informed the WHO under established procedures and that the vast majority of media reporting on the case was false. Reuters said it could not find Russian media evidence that a second person in Siberia had died.
The new development is the regulator's statement that measures are being wound down, set against the WHO's request for a cause of death. The cause remains unestablished in the official account.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Tedros said timely and complete information sharing is essential to clarify conflicting reports.
- Peskov said the vast majority of media reporting on the case is false information.