Irkutsk hospital quarantined after suspected pneumonic plague death

A district hospital in Shelekhov, Irkutsk region, has quarantined its inpatient department after a patient died of a suspected 'particularly dangerous infection,' likely pneumonic plague. The report is based on local sources and unconfirmed by federal health authorities. If confirmed, this would mark a rare plague outbreak in Siberia, raising public-health and biosecurity concerns.