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Russian authorities denied on Tuesday having imposed health restrictions in the Siberian region of Irkutsk following the death of an employee at an institute that fights the plague.
News that 28-year-old Daria Shipilova had allegedly died from pneumonic plague sparked alarm.
Pneumonic plague is a highly contagious lung infection that can be fatal, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
It is spread through droplets, unlike bubonic plague, which affects the lymph nodes and is transmitted through infected fleas.
The Russian consumer and health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, insisted on Tuesday that a document circulating online regarding an alleged tightening of health and epidemiological measures and restrictions in the Irkutsk region is false.
"The document and information in question do not come from official sources and are fake," the agency stated via Telegram.
"At the moment, no such decision has been made," it reported, stressing that "the epidemiological health situation in the Irkutsk region (...) remains stable."
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The Russian outlet People of Baikal, citing anonymous sources close to regional security services, claimed on Friday that the deceased woman may have contracted pneumonic plague through a broken test tube.
Other media outlets claimed that her death could have been due to a laboratory accident at the facility.
Up to 200 people she may have had contact with are in quarantine, added People of Baikal.
At a press conference in Geneva, the WHO stated on Tuesday that it is verifying the death with Russian authorities.
"The initial risk assessment conducted by the WHO, based on the information available, indicates that the risk is moderate to low for Irkutsk, low for the Russian Federation as a whole, and very low for the European region," said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.
Russian authorities assert that the disease was not detected during the autopsy.
According to the regional governor of Irkutsk, Igor Kobzev, an inspection by a commission of experts concluded that "the cause of death was pneumonia of indeterminate etiology."
Furthermore, he added, no employee of the institute for fighting the plague has sought medical attention since the young woman's death.
The United States is closely monitoring the situation. On Tuesday, the head of diplomacy, Marco Rubio, urged Russia to be "transparent" and "share more information with the world."
[Publicidad]