WHO says epidemic risk low after Siberia lab worker death

WHO said on 6 October 2026 the epidemic risk in Russia is low after 28-year-old Darya Shipilova died two days after falling ill at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. Spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said there was no sign of a wider outbreak, with contacts monitored and asymptomatic. Russian authorities said she died of "pneumonia of an unknown aetiology".