"We still do not have a complete picture of this event and cannot carry out a full risk assessment," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on Wednesday.
A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia died last week of “pneumonia of unknown origin.” Fears of pneumonic plague were quickly raised, and according to Russian independent media, several hospitals and people were quarantined.
Unknown cause
WHO has requested information from Russia following local media reports of a second laboratory worker with pneumonia of unknown cause. It has not been established that the person has plague.
WHO is aware that the Russian government held a meeting on October 2 after suspecting that a resident of the Irkutsk region had contracted a dangerous infection, Ghebreyesus said.
WHO colleague Maria Van Kerkhove, who leads the World Health Organization's work on pandemics, added that the UN agency needs to know what the person was infected with and how she was infected.
If (pneumonic plague) is ruled out as the cause, what did she die of? Van Kerkhove wondered.
Low risk
However, according to the UN agency's initial risk assessment, the risk to the public is estimated to be low.
The US and the EU have also requested more information. On Tuesday evening, US President Donald Trump said he had a scheduled phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the matter “very soon.”
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