“We encourage Russia to be transparent and share more information with the world so that we can all act appropriately,” Rubio said in a press conference with his Icelandic counterpart, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, when asked about the possible case of plague detected in Irkutsk.
“We are following it very closely, and I think everyone is following it very closely, because, depending on what we find out about it, we will know how to act,” stressed the head of US diplomacy, who acknowledged that “it is normal” that the information about Irkutsk is of concern.
“Every time you find out that there is a disease that has been transmitted to someone in a laboratory anywhere in the world, it is normal to worry, especially taking into account the recent events that occurred not long ago, obviously in 2020,” Rubio commented, alluding to the covid-19 pandemic.
President Donald Trump assured the day before that the US is still analyzing the possible outbreak of pulmonary plague that affects the Siberian region, although he stressed that Washington will support Moscow “in every way possible.”
Rubio, however, did not want to speculate on how the information coming from Russia should be responded to.
“I think it would be imprudent at this time, given the limited information we have, to speculate about what could be or not be, or about what is or what is not,” Rubio asserted, emphasizing that what happened in Irkutsk attracts the attention of both US administration agencies and international organizations.
“We are following it very closely, hour by hour” but “we have multiple organizations, not only in the United States, but also internationally, that are aware of the situation,” he emphasized.
“But we will have to make those decisions based on the information that we are collecting and that is provided to us, and so far that information remains quite limited, although we hope that will change in the coming hours and days,” he added.
According to the independent Russian media Mediazona, whose editorial office is located outside Russia but which works with journalists present in Russian territory, an employee of the Irktusk Anti-Plague Institute died of pneumonic plague and about 200 people were in contact with her, for which they were quarantined.
To date, two versions are being studied: that the patient was infected in Thailand, from where she recently returned, or as a result of the accidental breakage of a test tube with pathogens at her workplace.
The Russian state agency RIA Novotsi reported the woman’s death last Friday, citing the governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, who indicated that the deceased had been diagnosed with “a dangerous infectious disease.”
Russia denies it
Russian authorities denied on Tuesday having imposed health restrictions in the Siberian region of Irkutsk after the death of an employee of an institute that fights the plague.
The news that Daria Shipilova, 28, had supposedly died of pneumonic plague sparked alarm.
Pneumonic plague is a highly contagious lung infection that can be fatal, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
It is spread through droplets, unlike bubonic plague, which affects the lymph nodes and is transmitted through infected fleas.
The Russian consumer and health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, insisted on Tuesday that a document circulating on the internet about an alleged tightening of sanitary and epidemiological measures and restrictions in the Irkutsk region is false.
“The document and information in question do not come from official sources and are false,” the agency stated via telegram.
“At the moment no such decision has been made,” he reported, and stressed that “the sanitary-epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region (…) remains stable.”
The Russian media People of Baikal, citing anonymous sources close to regional security services, claimed on Friday that the deceased woman could have contracted pneumonic plague through a broken test tube.
Other media stated that his death could have been due to a laboratory accident at the facilities.
Up to 200 people he may have had contact with are in quarantine, People of Baikal added.
Russian authorities assure that the disease was not detected during the autopsy.
According to Irkutsk regional governor Igor Kobzev, an inspection by an expert commission has concluded that “the cause of death was pneumonia of undetermined etiology.”
Furthermore, he added, no employee of the plague control institute has gone to the doctor since the young woman’s death.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that his administration is closely monitoring the situation.
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