Siberia Plague Lab Checks Complete After Worker Death

Shafaqna English– On Thursday, Russian officials announced that health checks had been completed for everyone who had contact with a deceased worker at a Siberian plague research laboratory. The announcement reflects an effort to draw a line under the incident. It also suggests authorities want to reassure the public that the situation is under control.

The state health watchdog and the regional governor both issued statements. They said that monitoring of all the dead woman’s contacts had been concluded. They also repeated that no dangerous pathogens had been found in nearly five thousand samples.

This means that tests on a large number of samples came back negative for harmful viruses or bacteria. The statements were intended to reassure the public and show that the risk of infection had been ruled out.