Published Oct 05, 2026 | 8:27 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 05, 2026 | 8:27 AM
Before her death, Daria Shipilova reportedly told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria.
Synopsis: News reports said health authorities in Irkutsk, Siberia, have put nearly 200 people under medical observation after a lab assistant at a plague research institute died of an unspecified form of the disease. The Kremlin came under fire for allegedly keeping the incident under wraps.
Fear of an infectious disease has gripped Russia’s Irkutsk region in Siberia after a young laboratory worker died of an unspecified form of plague, forcing authorities to shut hospitals and sequester nearly 200 people.
Following the outbreak, the Kremlin came under criticism for reportedly keeping the spread of the disease under wraps.
Quoting the exiled news outlet Lyudi Baikala and pro-Kremlin broadcaster REN TV, The Moscow Times reported that health authorities have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation after the death of Daria Shipilova, a 27- or 28-year-old laboratory assistant at the Irkutsk anti-plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.
Before her death, she reportedly told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria. The incident occurred while collecting samples for testing. I
Irkutsk officials initially described the illness as a “particularly dangerous infection,” but Alexei Tsydenov, head of the neighbouring republic of Buryatia, confirmed on VK that the lab worker had died of an unspecified form of plague.
VK, or VKontakte, is a Saint Petersburg-based social networking service used mainly by Russian speakers.
So far, none of the contacts under medical observation has shown any symptoms of plague that killed tens of millions of people in the medieval Black Death.
“The situation in Shelekhov, Irkutsk region, where a plague quarantine has been declared, resembles the Wuhan case,” the New York Post quoted the Russian political insider channel Nezygar.
COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, before spreading worldwide and killing more than 7seven million people, according to global health estimates.
So far, however, officials say none of the identified contacts has shown symptoms, and their test results have come back negative.
(Compiled by Majnu Babu).
