A Maternity Hospital In Irkutsk Has Begun Distributing Questionnaires With Questions About The Plague
- 5.10.2026, 19:56
The perinatal center has a visitor policy in place.
At the Irkutsk City Perinatal Center, pregnant patients have begun receiving questionnaires asking about possible exposure to the plague. This was reported to “People of Lake Baikal” by blogger Ulyana Gavryunina, who arrived at the maternity hospital for an examination on October 5. One of the documents she was given was titled “Checklist for Suspected Plague.” The questionnaire asked about her well-being, contact with people who had arrived from abroad or who were ill, and whether she had a fever or a stuffy nose.
Since Friday, October 2, the perinatal center has been operating under restricted access: no one except pregnant patients is allowed inside. Gavryunina’s temperature was taken at the entrance, and she was asked to stick out her tongue. “They explained that there is as yet unconfirmed information about a virus that might even be more dangerous than the coronavirus, and that it’s still unclear what kind of virus it is and how to deal with it, especially since the children are so young. That’s why they imposed the quarantine,” Ulyana told LB. According to her, the center has also mandated mask-wearing and temporarily banned partner-assisted births. It is unclear when the restrictions will be lifted.
The measures at the maternity hospital were introduced following the death of a 27-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute Daria Shipilova. On September 29, she was hospitalized at the Shelekhov Hospital with symptoms of pneumonia, and she died a few days later. According to one account, she became infected after a work trip to Buryatia; according to another, she accidentally broke a test tube containing the plague pathogen in the laboratory. Following this, the hospital was placed under quarantine, and 189 people who had been in contact with the deceased were hospitalized.
Amid reports of the situation in the Russian region, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan have stepped up precautionary measures. In the U.S., the Donald Trump administration is monitoring information about the suspected case of plague and the related quarantine measures in Russia.