Mass quarantine issued in Russia after unexplained death of plague researcher

Former Rospotrebnadzor head Gennady Onishchenko said Friday that Shipilova’s infection was “most likely not the plague” but that there “will be no spread of this disease,” CNN reported.

Rospotrebnadzor has downplayed the incident, saying in a statement that the “epidemiological situation” in the region is stable. “No micro-organisms associated with the employee’s professional duties were detected in samples taken from the patient,” it said.

However, the current head of the agency, Anna Popova, made an unusual trip to Irkutsk on Friday, which Igor Kobzev, the local governor, described as being due to a “suspected case of a particularly dangerous infection affecting a resident of the region.”

A spokesperson for the US State Department told CNN, “We are monitoring the situation closely with the CDC and our other interagency partners. Many details have not been confirmed. We encourage Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly.”

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Monday that it, too, is monitoring the situation “very closely.”

Kyrgyzstan, around 1,500 miles from Irkutsk, said Monday it was introducing quarantine controls at state border crossing points.