The World Health Organization assessed the public health risk in Russia as low following the death of a 28-year-old Russian lab worker at Siberia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. Russian media identified the deceased woman as Daria Shipilova, a laboratory technician working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and Far East.
The Governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region rejected the assertion that the death resulted from pathogen exposure in a laboratory accident. Furthermore, the Governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region confirmed that no microorganisms linked to the worker's job were found in Shipilova's samples.
The Governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region also stated that no disease-related cases had been reported among institute employees over the preceding ten days. A head of the neighbouring Republic of Buryatia asserted that Shipilova had not visited the region.
The WHO updated its plague information on 29 September. Separately, US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones shared a post claiming Russia implemented mandatory temperature checks for passengers arriving in Moscow from Irkursk.
The flight depicted in Jones's post travelled from Bangkok to Moscow.
