Trump to speak to Putin on plague as US, UN urge transparency

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would speak very soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the reported plague death of a laboratory technician, as Washington and the United Nations called for transparency from Moscow.



Russian authorities denied that they were imposing anti-plague measures and played down the reports of an incident at a plague research institute in Siberia's Irkutsk region last week.



Russian news outlet People of Baikal reported Friday that the dead woman - named as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova - may have contracted pneumonic plague from a broken test tube. The People of Baikal outlet also said up to 200 people with whom she may have had contact were under quarantine.



But Russian authorities say the cause of death is not confirmed and their health watchdog has denied claims circulating in a document online that special measures had been put in place.



Irkutsk Regional Governor Igor Kobzev said Monday that an inspection had found the woman died of pneumonia and the cause was "undetermined".