Death of a woman: Russian bioweapon? Trump doesn't think so

US President Donald Trump says he currently does not believe that the death of the employee at a plague research center in Siberia is related to a bioweapon. When asked about this in the White House, he said: "Well, we don't believe that." We'll find out soon.

Trump did not explain what he based his assessment on. The US President made it clear that his announced telephone conversation with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin was still pending.

Trump announced on Tuesday that he wanted to speak to Putin on the phone because of the unclear case of the disease, which was suspected of being pneumonic plague. Trump said that the phone call would take place very soon. The US State Department had previously called on the Russian authorities to share information quickly and transparently.

When asked whether he was currently getting the same impression of Russia as he was of China at the beginning of the corona pandemic, Trump said: “China hasn’t said much, and Russia isn’t saying much either. But they say they have the situation very well under control.”

The 28-year-old scientist, who worked at the Institute for Combating Plague Diseases, died on Friday in the district hospital in the city of Shelekhov near Irkutsk in Siberia. According to the Russian agency responsible for disease control, the woman's death was not due to a plague pathogen. She named the cause of death as “pneumonia of unknown origin.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has now asked Russia for information about a possible additional death from pneumonia in Irkutsk.

Pneumonic plague is a severe form of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It can occur when the infection spreads to the lungs. The disease can be treated with antibiotics if therapy begins early.