Medical personnel in Siberia are tracking a series of potential infections following the death of a laboratory employee in the Irkutsk region. Nearly 200 people were hospitalized or placed under observation after the worker died from pneumonic plague, the most severe form of the disease. In response, authorities closed the Shelekhov hospital for quarantine and deployed officials from the FSB to accompany ambulances, while citizens in protective suits and masks were seen on local streets.

Governor Igor Kobzev stated that those in contact with the deceased woman have tested negative and show no symptoms, though local reports claim some patients have already become ill. The technician, who worked at a BSL-3 high-containment facility, had recently returned from a trip to natural plague hotspots in Buryatia. Investigators are now determining if the infection occurred during that trip or via an alleged laboratory accident involving a broken test tube.