As the WHO demands answers from Russia, fears of a new pandemic are unfounded

Anne Gulland

Deputy Editor, Global Health Security

Show biography

Anne Gulland is Deputy Editor for The Telegraph’s Global Health Security desk. She has written about health for more than 20 years and has had work published in a range of titles including academic journals such as The BMJ and Nature.

Updated 08 October 2026 11:17am BST

Published 05 October 2026 6:13pm BST

The World Health Organization has demanded that Russia provide answers after news emerged that a woman died of suspected plague.

Last week there were reports that Darya Shipilova, a lab worker in Irkutsk, Siberia, died of pneumonic plague after dropping a test tube containing samples of the pathogen Yersinia pestis , which causes the disease. Some 200 people were quarantined and there were reports of a further case.…