President Donald Trump has played down fears that a mysterious death at a Siberian laboratory points to a biological weapon. The president said Wednesday that American officials see no sign of a bioweapon, even as the Russian plague scare keeps health agencies around the world on alert.
Donald Trump reacts to whether the Russian plague scare is a bioweapon
Asked about the case in the Oval Office, Trump kept his answer short and left room for doubt. “We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so,” he told reporters. The case centers on a 28-year-old technician who died last week.
She worked at an institute in Siberia that studies plague. Moscow has imposed quarantines far stricter than a plague-linked death would normally prompt, and it has released few details, which has fueled questions abroad.
Trump said Russian officials have assured Washington that they have the outbreak contained. He compared the situation with early 2020, when Chinese authorities first insisted they had the COVID-19 virus under control before it spread worldwide. “China didn’t say much, and Russia is not saying much either,” Trump said. “But they do say they have it very much under control.”
He also expects Moscow to open up. “I just met with our people. We have brilliant experts,” Trump said. “They know everything about what’s going on. And, all of that information is going through them.”
The World Health Organization says Russia described the death as a community-acquired pneumonia. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva that the agency is now checking unconfirmed reports of a second sick employee at the same lab (via The Washington Post).
The agency still cannot say what pathogen caused the death. It also does not know what tests Russian labs ran or why officials quarantined or monitored roughly 200 contacts. Until Russia answers, WHO officials said, they cannot fully judge the risk to public health.
