BREAKING: 🇷🇺 Fears of pneumonic plague spark quarantines in Siberia A growing health scare is unfolding in Russia’s Irkutsk region after a 28-year-old woman linked to an anti-plague research institute died from severe pneumonia. • 197 people have reportedly been identified as contacts, with 189 placed under medical observation. • Multiple hospitals in Irkutsk and Shelekhov have reportedly been placed under quarantine. • Authorities are investigating fears that the illness could be pneumonic plague, a potentially deadly form that can spread through respiratory droplets. • Russia’s health authorities have not confirmed a plague outbreak, saying the cause of death remains pneumonia of unknown origin. • Testing and epidemiological investigations are ongoing.