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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has ordered the establishment of a special task force to coordinate measures to prevent the importation and spread of plague in Armenia from Russia’s Irkutsk Region, following the reported death of a 28-year-old lab worker there last week amid concerns over possible plague.
The government decision, published on the e-gov.am platform, establishes the task force as an advisory body responsible for coordinating preventive measures among government agencies.
According to the decision, the task force will be chaired by Armenia’s Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan, who will oversee its work and promptly submit to the prime minister any necessary proposals on issues requiring interagency coordination.
The Health Ministry’s operational working group is also monitoring reports on pneumonic plague in Russia.
The World Health Organization has said it does not have the “full picture” from Russia following the suspected death from plague last week of a 28-year-old laboratory worker in Siberia.
The woman died two days after falling ill with cold-like symptoms, according to The Guardian. She was an employee at the anti-plague research institute in the eastern city of Irkutsk, with some reports suggesting she was infected after a workplace accident.
The Russian authorities have denied a connection with the institute and say Shipilova died from “pneumonia of an unknown aetiology”. They insist there is no danger of a plague outbreak and have described the “sanitary and epidemiological” situation in the region as stable.