Russian Training Ground Hit by Pneumonic Plague! Many Chinese Flood Back to China, Deaths Rumored

Friends, I just checked into a hotel near the airport. Tomorrow morning, October 16th, I have an 1120 flight to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. But I suddenly got this message. I knew Moscow wasn't very safe right now, but has it really become this dangerous? The message said a connecting flight circled for six hours, four Moscow airports shut down, and 370 flights were disrupted. It was dated October 15 at 12.26pm. Today, I heard that people from a training ground called Markovka in Russia have returned to China. Many are already back. Do you understand? These are the first people you need to be cautious around. Do you understand? I'm only saying this once. That's all. Click follow if you haven't already. I've also heard there are already several cases in Mongolia. That's all I can tell you. There are several cases. Rely on official information. On October 14, Chinese social media commentators circulated reports of possible plague cases at Russia's Markovka military training grounds near the Donbass front line. They said many Chinese nationals had returned from the area and urged people to take precautions. Meanwhile, Phoenix TV cited what it called inside information also suggesting a possible plague outbreak at the training ground. Russian officials have not acknowledged it, but according to the report, Russian troops have tightened disease control measures. Captured Ukrainian soldiers are reportedly isolated and observed in the combat zone, then undergo health checks before being admitted to detention facilities. The measures have added to speculation. After a 28-year-old female researcher at a Russian anti-plague institute died under unusual circumstances, online rumours that the pneumonic plague had spread to China intensified. On October 16, a Chengdu resident using the pseudonym Sun Jingyang told the Epoch Times that he went to a hospital with a fever. A doctor there mentioned someone in Shuangliu district who had fallen ill and died after returning from Russia. Sun Jingyang said, I went to the fever clinic at Shuangliu Second People's Hospital on October 11 because I had influenza A and a fever. From the doctor's questions, I got the impression they were looking into someone who had returned from Russia, and it might have something to do with the plague. He added, when I bought a thermometer at the pharmacy, I had to register my information. I think everyone has to do that lately. Then the local disease control centre called me. They asked about symptoms associated with plague, although they had never actually mentioned plague. Sun said the doctor asked whether he had a rash but he did not order a plague test. He believed the doctor was using his symptoms to decide whether further screening was necessary. The Epoch Times then contacted the Shuangliu District Centre for Disease Control. A male staff member denied that a plague investigation was underway but acknowledged that officials had been conducting telephone screenings. He explained, Our disease control centre is investigating the situation you're talking about, but it has nothing to do with plague. We're mainly asking whether people have a fever. Asked whether there had been plague cases or deaths in Shuangliu, the employee dismissed the online reports as rumours. He said, If someone has plague, information about where they're hospitalised or whether anyone has died needs to remain confidential per our hospital rules. It's internal information, we can't just disclose it publicly. Chen said another Sichuan resident, Chen Sihan had told him about rumours of plague-related cases across China. She mentioned Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Gansu, Zhangzhou in Fujian, Shanghai and Beijing. She also said people in Chongqing might have fallen ill and died after returning from abroad. But when the reporter contacted Chen, she was cautious. She said online information was a mix of truth and falsehood. Authorities have already debunked a lot of it. There's no point saying more. Chen also said police had warned her after she privately messaged Sun. She declined to give more details, saying every app is monitored. Although Chinese authorities have sought to play down reports of a spreading plague outbreak, the news has unsettled Chinese students in Russia. Several students at Irkutsk State University told media outlets that after news of the researcher's death spread, student chat groups issued emergency health notices. They urged students to postpone large gatherings, avoid entertainment venues, and seek medical care immediately if they developed a cough or fever. A Chinese student named Zhang said, Russia has been short of medicine for ages. Everything is in short supply and prices keep going up. People are rushing to stock up. Some gas stations have no fuel. Look, there isn't a single car on the road. Families back home in China are panicking and stocking up on masks and medicine. On October 8, the Disease Control Centre in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, near the Russian border, held a meeting to assess the risk of plague. staff responsible for plague prevention, epidemiological investigations, disinfection and emergency response attended. On October 10, the Hulunbuir Centre for Disease Control in Inner Mongolia issued an urgent plague risk advisory. It urged people arriving from plague-endemic areas of Russia's far east to monitor their health. Border residents were advised to avoid contact with wild animals and watch for symptoms to prevent cross-border transmission. Three days later, the advisory was deleted. Authorities described it as routine public health education. Because of China's record of withholding information during SARS and COVID-19, many remain skeptical of official statements. Analysts said Russia's limited explanation of the researcher's death, combined with ongoing online rumors, has increased public anxiety in China. In December 2019, Chinese Dr. Li Wenliang issued an early warning about what later became known as COVID-19, but the pandemic still spread. Now a Chinese blogger is warning that pneumonic plague could spread from Russia to China, raising questions about whether people would take precautions in time. Some people online worry that Chinese authorities could use an outbreak to bring back COVID-era lockdowns, with workers in full protective suits once again enforcing restrictions on the streets. Beijing scholar Yang Ming told overseas media that both China and Russia may conceal information when responding to emergencies. He pointed to China's handling of SARS in 2003 and the Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. He said years of limited transparency have weakened trust in official announcements, so new outbreak rumours can quickly trigger panic. Following reports of possible pneumonic plague outbreak in Russia, experts said that the disease has reached China, including Henan, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai and Chongqing. An Xinhuan source said online rumours that a branch of the affiliated hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University in Erenhot, near the Mongolian border, had admitted more than 70 plague patients. The post said 40 had died after being hospitalized and that some medical workers had been infected. Other rumours also named Hohhot, Chifeng, Tongliao, Baotou and other parts of Heilongjiang as places where suspected cases had emerged. Despite international sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, trade between China and Russia has continued. Chinese authorities have repeatedly described their support for Russia as having no limits. Border crossings remain open, and large numbers of Russian tourists continue to enter China. On October 12, a Chinese truck driver named Xue, who returns to the Manjia Li border crossing, said traffic was moving normally and inspections were not particularly strict. He said, Drivers just wear masks and take personal precautions. That's enough. China's border crossings are operating as usual, but other countries are taking a different approach. A Chinese man surnamed Niu, who worked in Vietnam, said that a Russian friend had said Vietnam had tightened medical precautions and was denying entry to people from certain parts of Russia. He said, there are Russians all over Da Nang. You tell from the checks at customs. Mongolia's health ministry announced a pneumonic plague outbreak in Russia's Irkutsk region. Pneumonic plague can be deadly and can spread through respiratory droplets. Mongolia has reportedly activated an emergency response plan and strengthened border screening to prevent the disease from entering. Earlier, the U.S. Embassy in Russia warned Americans about the threat of plague and urged them to leave Russia immediately. Here is the look at the timeline of the suspected pneumonic plague incident in Russia. Shipilova, the researcher, worked at Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, where she regularly handled dangerous pathogens. On September 29, she developed a high fever and was rushed to intensive care. The hospital announced her death sometime between the nights of October 1 and the early hours of October 2. Shortly after her death, Alexei Sardinov, head of neighbouring Bogdania, wrote on social media that Shipilova had died of plague. He deleted the post and changed his account a few hours later. Officials nearby Belkostar also posted a warning against travel to Shelyakov, where she had been treated. That warning was removed within hours. Independent Russian media reported that Shipilova may have been exposed to plague bacteria after breaking a test tube at the institute. Russia's public health agency later said its investigation found no laboratory accident involving dangerous microorganisms. Tests of samples taken from the researcher found no organisms linked to her work. Officials continue to describe her illness as pneumonia of unknown origin. Within days, official accounts changed three times, from plague to pneumonia of unknown origin and then to an ordinary community-acquired infection. Some analysts say the main problem is that Russian authorities have not fully explained the cause of death, making it difficult to assess the scale of any outbreak or the characteristics of the pathogen involved. Veteran China commentator Chang Jingyuan said, the cause of illness in Russia isn't transparent, with information completely closed off. Outsiders can accurately judge how far an outbreak may have spread in Irkutsk. We also can't tell how dangerous the strain is, or whether it's the drug-resistant strain people have been talking about. Some medical professionals believe the incident was more likely an accident during research. During a comparison with COVID-19, they suggest such incidents may not have been entirely under researchers' control. So did Shipilova actually die of pneumonic plague? Commentator Hung Ho wrote that the institute where Shipilova worked studies plague and she suffered a severe lung infection. He argued that the incubation period, severity and risk of death were consistent with pneumonic plague. He compared the case to the emergence of COVID-19 six years ago, asserting that an infection occurred at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which studied and modified bat coronaviruses, before spreading into the community. He argued that a laboratory leak remains possible even with strict safety measures. Some in the United States have suggested that globalists released a biological weapon. Russia is not a stronghold of globalists, so that seems unlikely, but the possibility that the laboratory was researching biological weapons cannot be ruled out. Marshall Billingsley, a former US presidential envoy, treasury official focused on terrorist financing and deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, is a fellow at the Hudson Institute. He worked in the 1990s with Ken Alibek, a former senior figure in the Soviet biological weapons program who later defected to the United States. He said the Soviets developed an antibiotic-resistant strain of plague bacteria and studied plague chimeras combining two or more pathogens. He specifically noted that the Irkutsk Plague Institute, where a possible leak occurred, had participated in the biological weapons program. So what may have leaked was not ordinary plague bacteria, but a genetically modified strain. If Shibilova really was infected with plague bacteria, her death raises serious questions. Vaccination is routine for staff at Plague Research Institute. Although the vaccine may offer limited protection, antibiotics are effective. When a staff member develops respiratory symptoms, a laboratory leak should be one of the first possibilities considered. Doctors would normally use antibiotics effective against plague bacteria, yet treatment failed and she died about seven days after her respiratory symptoms began. On October 7, the World Health Organization asked Russia for more information and an explanation of media reports that a second employee might have developed pneumonia of unknown origin. Russian officials denied there was a second case and said there was no local emergency. Pneumonic plague is a bacterial infection caused by the same pathogen as the better-known bubonic plague. The incident drew condemnation from the United States and other governments, highlighting ongoing international suspicions about Russian biomedical research. The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute is not simply a local disease control office. It belongs to the former Soviet Union's extensive anti-plague research network. During the Cold War, some facilities in that network secretly contributed to the Soviet biological weapons development. Some experts say these institutions also supplied pathogen samples to Soviet military laboratories developing biological weapons. Many of the institutions remain in operation. At this point, the questions are no longer just about whether it was plague, but about what Russia may have created inside its laboratories. Today, the most dangerous infectious diseases seem to come not from nature, but from laboratories and human intervention. some people deliberately create pathogens that do not exist in nature these pathogens do nothing to prevent or treat disease instead they can cause widespread harm that is when science goes off course