Russia says no plague found in contacts of Siberian lab worker who died | 6 Oct 2026 | Plague had not been detected among close contacts of a worker in an anti-plague laboratory in Siberia who died last week, with 60% of the identified group tested so far, officials in Russia said Tuesday. News from Russia’s consumer and health watchdog on Sunday that a female staffer at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East had died from a “pneumonia of undetermined” origin last week has raised public health fears worldwide. “Laboratory testing identified two cases of Covid-19 and two cases of rhinovirus infection,” watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement. “No other infectious disease pathogens were detected among the contacts,” the statement said, without mentioning the word “plague.”