Russia dismisses reports of second plague case as ‘false information’

Russia dismisses reports of second plague case as ‘false information’Senior WHO official urges Russia to to provide more information on the suspected pneumonic ⁠plague case.Russia has dismissed media reports of a second suspected case of pneumonic plague in Siberia, as the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Moscow to formally respond to its inquiry regarding the reports.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that “the vast majority of what the media is reporting regarding this situation is false information”, in response to a question about reports of a second case.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Russia plague quarantine following lab death: Should we be worried?list 2 of 3Russia denies imposing anti-plague measures after lab worker deathlist 3 of 3US CDC says it’s ‘aware of and closely monitoring’ Russian plague caseend of listPeskov said that information on the suspected cases should be derived from official statements by Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.Russia’s health regulator said there were no infections detected among staff after a plague institute worker died from pneumonia. The origin of the illness remains unknown, prompting international concern that the case could involve the plague.Russia acknowledged on Sunday that a 28-year-old woman employed at a plague research institute in Siberia’s Irkutsk died after she was diagnosed with a “pneumonia of unknown aetiology”, prompting global concern over a suspected plague case.The United States, the European Union and the WHO have all called on Russia to be transparent about the situation.More information neededWHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Russia to clarify “media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause” at the Irkutsk institute.“We have received information from two media outlets, one of them is Russian,” Tedros said in a briefing on Wednesday, adding, “We asked Russia to respond to that.”