Trump says he plans to speak with Putin about possible pneumonic plague case in Russia

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the pneumonic plague, after the death of a female staffer at a Russian anti-plague lab that’s sparked public health fears worldwide.

Asked whether he had spoken with Putin about the matter, Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn that he had a “call scheduled” and that it would take place “very soon.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks.

Trump had told reporters Monday that he was willing to help Russia, calling the pneumonic plague “a rough disease.”

“I hate to see them having it,” Trump said. “Anybody that has that kind of a problem, we’re always willing to help.”

A Russian health watchdog said last week that Darya Shipilova, 28, a staffer at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East, had died from a “pneumonia of undetermined” origin.

The watchdog concluded that plague was not found among the staffer’s contacts, saying only that they found two cases of Covid and one of rhinovirus.

A State Department official told NBC News earlier Tuesday that the U.S. had…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world