Russia is believed to have implemented a lockdown on hospitals and medical centres in a 30-square-mile area following a feared plague outbreak.
asserted
Russia → believe → outbreak
Panic broke out when a female laboratory technician died and hundreds of people she came into contact with were placed in quarantine.
asserted
she → break → quarantine
Darya Shipilova, 28, was reportedly working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia when she was exposed to pneumonic plague.
uncertain
she → work → plague
Shipilova told medical staff she had accidentally broken a test tube holding live bacteria, according to news outlet Lyudi Baikala.
uncertain
she → tell → Baikala
Now, foreign states have urgently tightened border health controls despite Russia insisting the anti-plague scientist died from ‘unidentified pneumonia’, rather than the suspected ‘Black Death’ bacterium.
asserted
scientist → tighten → pneumonia
The Putin regime is seeking to downplay Shipilova's death on October 1, yet widespread suspicion of a state cover-up is rapidly spreading.
asserted
suspicion → seek → up
It was revealed today that more than 60 colleagues of the young scientist will remain locked inside her Siberian research institute for days, sleeping on floors and chairs despite none testing positive for the plague.
asserted
none → reveal → plague
Up to five hospitals in and near Irkutsk are in 'epidemic' mode, according to reports, with hundreds of staff and patients not allowed to leave.
uncertain
hundreds → accord → staff
Lab worker Darya Shipilova, 28, died in Siberia of pneumonic plague after allegedly breaking a test tube
She was reportedly working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia when she was exposed to pneumonic plague
City Clinical Hospitals No. 1, No. 3, and No. 10 and the Ivano-Matreninskaya Children’s Hospital have been closed for a three-week quarantine, according to Lyudi Baikala.
uncertain
she → die → Baikala
Relatives of a woman giving birth at one of Irkutsk’s maternity hospitals also reported to the outlet that it had imposed a quarantine.
asserted
it → give → quarantine
A source in the healthcare sector told the publication that Irkutsk doctors are 'openly talking about plague'.
asserted
doctors → tell → plague
Shipilova became unwell while on a field expedition with colleagues in Buryatia, beside Russia's eastern border with Mongolia.
asserted
Shipilova → become → Mongolia
She was admitted to hospital on September 29 and placed on a ventilator but died two days later in Shelekhov, a satellite city of Irkutsk.
asserted
She → admit → Irkutsk
She came into contact with roughly 200 people, who are now being monitored over fears of an outbreak.
asserted
who → come → outbreak
Regional authorities are implementing a 'comprehensive set of anti-epidemic measures,' according to Maxim Modin, the mayor of the Shelekhovsky district in eastern Russia, near the Mongolian border.
uncertain
authorities → implement → border
The inpatient facility at the hospital where the lab technician was treated has been placed under quarantine, and several departments have stopped discharging or admitting patients, Modin added.
asserted
Modin → treat → patients
Pneumonic plague causes a severe lung infection, with symptoms including fever, shortness of breath and coughing up blood, which typically begin to show between three and seven days after contact.
asserted
which → cause → contact
Fatalities from pneumonic plague drop to around 17 per cent if treated with antibiotics within the first 24 hours of infection.
asserted
Fatalities → drop → infection
However, the disease is almost always fatal if left untreated.
asserted
disease → leave → ?
There have also been claims that Russian authorities are attempting to hide exactly what happened.
uncertain
what → attempt → ?
Reports claim that drugs used to treat the disease are running out in the region, leaving terrified residents piling into pharmacies and medical facilities demanding supplies.
uncertain
drugs → claim → supplies
In its only comment on the case, the Kremlin said the public should only trust updates coming from the official health agency.
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public → say → agency
'One should rely on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor rather than listening to various rumors and speculation,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
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Peskov → rely → rumors
Health officials have been pictured in the Irkutsk region wearing hazmat suits amid the plague response, as a mask mandate has also been put in place
A worker in full protective gear is filmed by residents of Shelekhov in Russia's Irkutsk region as the local hospital is partially shut following the death of a young woman
A team of Irkutsk anti-plague institute experts conduct an anthrax-response drill
Central Asian states Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have tightened health checks at borders with Russia amid alarm over a suspected dangerous infection in Irkutsk region
The director of the Irkutsk Aluminum Plant (IrkAZ) in Shelekhov, Artem Fominykh, announced a mask mandate for factory employees on October 2, 'due to the current situtation in our region'.
asserted
director → picture → region
He urged employees to seek immediate medical attention if they experienced any symptoms of illness.
asserted
they → urge → illness
'Better safe than sorry - take precautions,' he said on his Telegram channel.
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he → take → channel
Fominykh later said on October 4 that the mask mandate was a routine response to seasonal respiratory illness.
asserted
mandate → say → illness
The administration of Baikalsk, a city in the Irkutsk region, published a Telegram post on October 3 urging residents not to travel to Shelekhov.
asserted
administration → publish → Shelekhov
'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 8.28am local time.
asserted
administration → confirm → time
It deleted the post two hours later, Lyudi Baikala reported.
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Baikala → delete → post
The national television channel REN TV also deleted five social media posts about the spread of plague in Shelekhov.
asserted
channel → delete → Shelekhov
It has come to light that Shipilova had personally worked with Yersinia pestis - the bacterium responsible for plague and the medieval Black Death - in laboratories at her workplace.
asserted
Shipilova → come → workplace
Ex-Soviet state Kyrgyzstan evidently doubts Moscow’s assurances, as it has ordered heightened sanitary controls at all its border checkpoints over reports of the suspected plague case.
asserted
it → doubt → case
Officials said people, vehicles and cargo crossing its frontier were subjected to increased epidemiological surveillance.
asserted
people → say → surveillance
A Health Ministry statement in the ex-Soviet republic said: 'These preventive measures were prompted by reports of a confirmed case of the plague in the Russian Federation.'
Uzbekistan was 'taking measures to prevent the importation and spread of highly dangerous infections'.
Kazakhstan's Health Ministry today made clear it is monitoring the Irkutsk situation, has taken 'preventive measures,' and is carrying out sanitary-quarantine controls at state-border crossing points.
It shares a 4,750-mile frontier with Russia.
asserted
It → say → Russia
Mongolia already has a high-alert status in its border regions with Russia.
asserted
Mongolia → have → Russia
Shipilova, left, died in the early hours of October 2 after developing 'pneumonia of unknown aetiology,' according to Russian officials
In the US, a White House spokesperson said: 'The Trump administration is aware of the outbreak, is monitoring it, and is evaluating possible courses of action.'
The international precautions come despite Russia's Rospotrebnadzor health watchdog insisting since Sunday that there is no plague outbreak and declaring the situation in Irkutsk and nearby Shelekhov 'stable'.
uncertain
situation → die → Irkutsk
Shipilova died in the early hours of October 2 after developing 'pneumonia of unknown aetiology,' according to officials.
uncertain
Shipilova → die → officials
If this was the case, it is unclear why strict quarantine has been imposed at her institute and several local hospitals.
uncertain
quarantine → impose → institute
Locals fear a cover-up with one saying: 'The more they reassure us, the more frightening it gets.'
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it → fear → us
…and 44 more, not listed.
The Aporia
