WHO says it does not have ‘full picture’ from Russia following suspected plague death

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general, said he wanted clarification from the Russian government following unconfirmed reports of ‘a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause’. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

The World Health Organization has said it does not have the “full picture” from Russia following the suspected death from plague last week of a 28-year-old laboratory worker in Siberia.

Darya Shipilova died two days after falling ill with cold-like symptoms. She was an employee at the anti-plague research institute in the eastern city of Irkutsk, with some reports suggesting she was infected after a workplace accident.