A giant Russian national flag flies behind apartment blocks in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 19, 2025. Anton Vaganov | ReutersNearly 200 people have been placed under medical observation in Russia’s Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia for suspected exposure to the plague, according to local media reports. The report said 189 people were being monitored following the illness of an employee at a plague research institute in Irkutsk. Alexei Tsydenov, head of the nearby Republic of Buryatia, said the woman had died from an unspecified form of plague. Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Sunday that the employee had been diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology” and that the health and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region and the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov remained stable. The agency said expanded testing had not detected microorganisms related to the The update follows local media reports on Friday that a 27-year-old employee at an anti-plague institute had fallen ill with suspected pneumonic plague after returning from a work trip to Buryatia, where an outbreak had been reported near the border with Mongolia, citing Russian channel Telegram Mash. The White House is monitoring reports of the suspected case and related quarantines in Russia, Axios reported Sunday, citing a Trump administration official. The official said the administration was “aware, monitoring the outbreak and evaluating options,” according to the report. The Russian and Moscow health ministries, the World Health Organization and the US State Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
