Russian authorities informed the World Health Organization on Tuesday that no case of plague had been recorded in the Irkutsk Oblast region of Siberia., According to the United Nations health agency, after reports that a laboratory worker died of possible pneumonic plague.
However, the World Health Organization says Russian officials have not yet told the agency which pathogen killed the lab worker.
The World Health Organization said: “The World Health Organization is aware of media reports that a laboratory worker in the Irkutsk region of the Russian Federation died of suspected pneumonic plague, and that approximately 200 of her contacts were under medical observation and undergoing testing.”
“On 3 October, the World Health Organization asked the Russian authorities, under the International Health Regulations (IHR), to provide any additional information they had, so that we could assess the risks. The IHR requires countries to respond within 24 hours to acknowledge the WHO request, and then provide additional public health information within 48 hours.”
The statement continued: “The Russian authorities responded on October 6 and told the World Health Organization that the woman’s illness initially appeared to be a typical acute respiratory viral infection, and that no case of plague had been recorded in Irkutsk, either in her or in anyone else.”
“The World Health Organization has requested additional information from Russia regarding the pathogen causing the pneumonia that led to the woman’s death. The World Health Organization is closely monitoring the situation, keeping other countries informed, and stands ready to support the Russian authorities if they request it.”
The update comes hours after Russian health officials announced that a full range of preventive measures had been implemented – including contact tracing of the deceased woman, medical surveillance and laboratory tests.
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“The test results showed that there were no dangerous infectious pathogens in any of the contacts,” said the Russian authorities’ memo, which the World Health Organization conveyed to the Associated Press.
The Public Health Agency of Canada told Global News on Monday evening that “at this time, no risk to Canada has been identified” and that it is “closely monitoring the situation.”
The lab worker, a 28-year-old woman, died in a hospital in Shelikhov, a town just outside Irkutsk. The city’s mayor said earlier this week that the hospital had been placed under quarantine, and officials from Russia’s national public health watchdog traveled to the area.
On Monday, the governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, did not specify the illness but said it was a suspected case of a “particularly serious infection,” later describing it as “pneumonia of unknown cause,” the Associated Press and Reuters reported.
The institute where the woman worked “studies dangerous pathogens,” including plague, in a part of Siberia where the disease “occurs naturally in wild animals,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said at a UN news conference on Tuesday.
He said Russian officials had not yet requested the deployment of WHO experts to Russia, which determined that the health risks were moderate to low for Irkutsk; Reduced risks for the Russian Federation as a whole; And very low for the WHO European region.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was monitoring the situation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russian authorities to share more information.
“Maybe there’s nothing there. Maybe it’s bigger than we thought. We don’t know,” he said at a press conference in Iceland. “We are watching it closely, and I think the whole world is watching it closely.”
Canadian Health Minister Marjorie Michel said Monday that “there is no risk to Canada.”
—With files from The Associated Press and World News Katherine Ward
&Copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
