Siberia plague lab worker dies; Russia sees no epidemic risk

Russia's health authorities said Wednesday there is no epidemic threat in Siberia after a plague research lab worker died, while the WHO seeks more details on her pneumonia case. The 28-year-old worker, Darya Shipilova, died Friday from pneumonia of unknown cause, initially prompting quarantine of about 200 people. Rospotrebnadzor said it is scaling back precautionary measures after intensive investigations found no emergencies, with over 90 percent of contacts completing medical observation and nearly 5,000 lab tests revealing no dangerous pathogens. The agency stressed the worker was vaccinated and had immunity to infections she handled, while noting it provided information to the WHO per international regulations. The WHO, US, and EU called for more transparency, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissing most media reports as false information. Western claims of a second plague death in Siberia lack supporting evidence, and no such reports exist in Russian media.