Russia turns down Trump’s offer of help over plague fears: “We’ll handle it ourselves” “The dangerous diagnosis has not been confirmed,” said the deputy head of the Shelekhovsky district in Russia’s Irkutsk region. The official insists the situation is under control and there is no panic in the region. Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was ready to help Russia in the event of a large-scale outbreak of a deadly disease. 🔺 What happened? On October 2, a 28-year-old laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia died under unclear circumstances. Authorities subsequently quarantined around 200 people, while several unconfirmed theories about how she may have become ill began circulating on social media. According to one version, she allegedly dropped a test tube containing live bacteria at work. Russia’s health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, rejected that claim and said the woman died from an unidentified form of pneumonia.