At the Center of Russia’s Plague Scare, Residents ‘Don’t Trust’ Officials – but Have Little Other Choice
WHO urged Moscow to clarify reports of a second Irkutsk institute employee with pneumonia, while Russian authorities said nearly 5,000 tests found no dangerous pathogens.
- World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Moscow on Wednesday to clarify "media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause" from the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute.
- Fears intensified after lab worker Darya Shipilova died in Shelekhov last week from "pneumonia of an unknown aetiology," though Russian authorities downplayed the death, stating post-mortem analysis showed no infection linked to her "professional work."
- Rospotrebnadzor reported Wednesday that the situation in the Irkutsk region remained "stable," with nearly 5,000 tests conducted revealing no dangerous pathogens despite resident skepticism over official transparency.
- President Donald Trump's offer to "help" Russia by discussing the reports with Vladimir Putin was widely laughed off in Shelekhov, where residents dismissed the gesture as insincere.
- Comparisons to Moscow's history of downplaying health disasters have emerged, with local resident Oksana expressing widespread distrust: "There's so much information that I no longer know what to believe.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Russian governor says there are no health problems among contacts of suspected plague-dead woman
‘Everything is normal’: Life inside the Siberian cities at the center of a plague scare
By Zahra Ullah, Arina Porkhovnik, CNN Moscow (CNN) — When the Siberian town of Shelekhov found itself at the center of global headlines over a plague scare, residents might have hoped to be the best informed. But Russians have long been accustomed to living with unanswered questions and opaque governance. So, while the sudden death
At the center of Russia’s plague scare, residents ‘don’t trust’ officials – but have little other choice
By Zahra Ullah, Arina Porkhovnik, CNN Moscow (CNN) — When the Siberian town of Shelekhov found itself at the center of global headlines over a plague scare, residents might have hoped to be the best informed. But Russians have long been accustomed to living with unanswered questions and opaque governance. So, while the sudden death
For four days, she remained in the hospital in Sheleejov, a city of just under 50,000 inhabitants in the Irkutsk region.
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