Russian authorities have also reportedly introduced mandatory temperature checks for passengers on flights from Irkutsk to Moscow. Nearly 200 contacts of the deceased laboratory worker were identified, with 189 reportedly hospitalized for observation and five medical facilities placed under quarantine. No secondary plague cases have been confirmed.
Darya Shipilova, a technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, died overnight Oct. 1–2 after developing severe pneumonia. Reports that she broke a test tube containing live plague bacteria remain unconfirmed. Rospotrebnadzor, which oversees the institute, denied a laboratory accident occurred and said tests found no pathogens linked to her work, describing her illness as pneumonia of unknown origin.