Plague death triggers quarantine, mask mandates in Russia's Irkutsk region in Siberia

An aluminum factory and multiple hospitals in Russia's Irkutsk Oblast have instituted preventative measures, including quarantines and mask mandates, following a laboratory worker's recent death by plague, Russian officials and media reported on Oct. 4.

The measures come after Darya Shipilova, a lab technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov, died after reportedly contracting plague on Oct. 2. A week earlier, Shipolova is alleged to have accidentally broken a test tube containing the pathogen that causes pneumonic plague while collecting samples.

The director of the Irkutsk Aluminum Plant (IrkAZ) in Shelekhov, Artem Fominykh, announced a mask mandate for factory employees on Oct. 4 "due to the current situtation in our region." He urged employees to seek immediate medical attention if they experienced any symptoms fo illness.

Several hospitals in the city of Irkutsk have also reportedly also closed for a three-week quarantine, according to the Russian outlet Lyudi Baikala (People of Baikal). These include city hospitals No. 1, 3, and 10, as well as the Ivanovo-Matreninsk Children's Clinical Hospital.

A source in the healthcare sector has told the outlet that Irkutsk doctors are "openly talking about plague," though the disease is not mentioned in official documents.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify the Russian outlet's claims at the time of publication.

Russian officials have been evasive about the cause of Shipilova's death and the possible risk of plague infection in Irkutsk Oblast.

Authorities in Baykalsk urged residents on Oct. 3 to temporarily avoid traveling to Shelekhov and nearby settlements due to the reported plague case — then deleted the warning less than two hours later.

"Due to unofficial information about a confirmed case of plague in a person in the city of Shelekhov, we ask you to limit visits to Shelekhov and nearby settlements until the circumstances surrounding this threat are clarified," the Baykalsk city administration said in a post at 8:28 a.m. local time.

The post was deleted at 10:21 a.m., according to Lyudi Baikala.

Pro-Kremlin broadcaster REN TV also deleted its Telegram posts reporting the number of people hospitalized. All five posts about the reported spread of plague were later removed.

The governor of Russia's far-eastern Buryatia Republic, which borders Irkutsk Oblast, appeared to confirm Shipilova's death from plague in a social media post on Oct. 2. While refuting rumors that Shipliova had visited Buryatia, Governor Alexei Tsydenov wrote that the woman had died of plague.

However, he later edited the post to add the word "possibly."

Irkutsk Oblast Governor Igor Kobzev has also been publicly quiet about the situation. On Oct. 2, he made a statement on the "particularly dangerous infection"while reporting on a special meeting of the regional commission on sanitation and epidemic prevention.

Kobzev made his first comments on Shipilova's death on Oct. 4, though he did not refer to her by name but only as "an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute."

"Preventive measures are being carried out in the region under the strict supervision of Rospotrebnadzor (Russia's national public health and consumer protection agency)," the governor said.

Kobzev did not directly discuss plague, saying instead that the employee contracted "pneumonia of unknown origin," according to Rospotrebnadzor.

"No microorganisms linked to the employee's professional duties were detected in samples taken from the patient," Kobzev claimed.

"No reports of infectious diseases have been recorded among institute staff over the past 10 days. All individuals who had contact with the patient have been identified, examined, and placed under medical observation involving daily laboratory testing."

The Irkutsk plague scare is not the first time Russian officials have tried to suppress details about a potential health risk. In April, Russian authorities tried to downplay another outbreak — a cattle epidemic that had swept parts of Siberia since February, saying it was under control and caused by pasteurellosis, a relatively minor bacterial infection.

Veterinarians and independent journalists questioned that account, pointing to mass slaughter, village lockdowns, and secrecy more typical of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak.