Russian authorities assured on Sunday, October 4, that the health situation in the Irkutsk region remains “stable” despite the suspicious death of a lab technician at the Anti-Plague Research Institute two days earlier.
The death had triggered rumors of a possible return of the plague, a deadly disease. Several hospitals in the region were placed under quarantine as a precaution.
However, local authorities dismissed this hypothesis and cited “pneumonia of unknown origin” as the likely cause of death.