WHO presses Russia for details on Siberian lab worker's plague-linked death

The World Health Organization said Wednesday it lacks information about how a lab worker in Siberia died and is urging Russia to provide more details amid concerns about pneumonic plague. The agency is also checking unconfirmed reports of a second case linked to the facility. The 28-year-old woman, identified in Russian media as Darya Shipilova, died Oct. 2 after working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. Russia says she died of pneumonia and has reported no plague cases, but WHO officials say they don't understand how she was infected and are seeking clarification on the cause and related public health measures. Russia's health watchdog says the situation is calm and testing found no dangerous pathogens among contacts, though two COVID-19 and two rhinovirus cases were found. The hospital where she died was quarantined, and her mother says she hasn't received official documents on the cause of death.