- Trump scheduled call with Putin over Siberia plague investigation.
- Russian institute employee died, possible plague link investigated.
- US offered assistance to Russia for plague investigation.
- WHO declared global risk from case very low.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday (local time) that he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible case of plague at a research institute in Siberia, as Russian health authorities investigate the death of an employee.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he expected to speak to Putin “very soon” about the case. “We’ll be able to report about it, probably tomorrow,” he added, The Associated Press reported.
The development comes after an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia died last week. Russian authorities have attributed her death to pneumonia of an unknown cause, while health officials investigate whether it could be linked to plague.
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Trump Says US Ready To Assist Russia
Asked what the US intelligence community was saying about the situation, Trump said Washington was in “very deep discussions” over the case.
Trump had said on Monday that the US would be willing to assist Russia if needed.
“It’s a rough disease. You know, that’s a disease we used to be able to control, but somehow those microbes have gotten stronger and smarter. They’re like an army,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
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WHO Says Risk Outside Russia ‘Very Low’
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that the risk posed by the case outside Russia is “very low”. The UN health agency said it was in contact with Russian authorities following reports of the woman’s death.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier also sought to distinguish the case from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There is currently no indication that we are dealing with anything similar to the pandemic,” Lindmeier told The Associated Press.
The case has nevertheless revived memories of the Covid-19 pandemic and the debate over its origins, including allegations that the coronavirus may have emerged from a laboratory in China. WHO has not reached a definitive conclusion on how the pandemic began.
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