Russian media claim a second person has died from plague in Irkutsk as the Kremlin urges Russians to trust only official health updates, while reports are deleted
There are fears a second person has been killed by the “black death plague” in Russia. Local media allegedly reported the death before the articles were taken down as the Kremlin urges the public to trust “official statements” only.
The second death was reported to have occurred at an Irkutsk district hospital. Independent Russian outlet The Insider reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the public to ignore unofficial claims and stick to statements from the state health watchdog.
“One should rely on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor (the national public health agency) rather than listening to various rumors and speculation,” Peskov said. Yet a string of reports has seemingly been scrubbed from view, including pieces published by Russia’s Channel 5 broadcaster and the nationally distributed daily Kommersant, the Daily Mail reported.
An insider reportedly said that on October 2 federal channel REN TV also removed all five of its stories about alleged plague cases in the Irkutsk region. Local officials appeared to acknowledge public concern too. On October 3, the administration of Baikalsk, a city in the Irkutsk region, posted a Telegram warning telling residents not to travel to 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 Baikalsk city administration wrote.
The message was deleted around two hours later, Lyudi Baikala reported. Russia’s public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has strongly rejected claims of an outbreak.
But the exiled opposition site People of Baikal claims doctors in the region are openly discussing plague. Locals have also reported sightings of people in PPE, including protective suits and masks, while workers at Irkutsk’s aluminium plants and nursery staff have reportedly been told to wear masks.
Meanwhile, interest online has exploded, with searches for “plague” (chuma in Russian) up 5,000 per cent compared with this time last year, according to The Times. Panic is sweeping across Europe after US experts raised concerns that a suspected Russian plague outbreak could rapidly breach borders, the Daily Star previously reported.
Fears have been triggered following the mysterious death of Siberian laboratory worker Daria Shipilova, 28, who fell ill in Shelekhov. Reports from inside Russia claim the lab technician smashed a glass test tube packed with lethal bacteria while working at the secretive Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute.
Kremlin officials deny any lab disaster occurred, claiming Daria died from “pneumonia of unknown aetiology”.
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