Deputy PM says suspected plague-like symptoms seen in Hulunbuir; Chinese officials report no outbreak

Deputy Prime Minister N. Nomtoibayar, who oversees emergency affairs, told reporters at Government House on October 14 that suspicious symptoms similar to the case in Irkutsk, Russia, had been detected in Hulunbuir in China's Inner Mongolia region. A Hulunbuir health official, however, told Chinese media that there is no plague outbreak in the city.

What the Deputy Prime Minister said

According to ikon.mn and iSee.mn, Nomtoibayar said the State Emergency Commission had discussed the Irkutsk case and that Russian authorities had said it was not plague, having run about 5,000 tests and sent the results to the World Health Organization (WHO). But after suspicious symptoms appeared in Hulunbuir yesterday, Mongolia has been exchanging information with China, and a Chinese official is working in Mongolia. After consulting the WHO, a team from the National Emergency Management Agency and the Ministry of Health left this morning to check preparedness at the border, he said.

What Chinese officials say

According to Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) and Shanghai's Jiefang Daily, the Hulunbuir Center for Disease Control issued a plague prevention notice on October 10. On October 13 a staff member of the city's Health Commission said there was no plague outbreak in the city, that the notice was routine monthly public-health information, and that it had been deleted to avoid misunderstanding. The Hulunbuir CDC also said no human plague cases have been recorded there since 1927 and that recent surveillance has found no plague among rodents.

The Irkutsk case

A female employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East died in early October of “pneumonia of unknown cause”. On October 5, Mongolia's National Center for Zoonotic Diseases said, based on a response from Russian authorities, that a suspected plague case had not been confirmed (MNB). The State Emergency Commission met on October 9 and lifted heightened readiness after the Russian side reported two COVID-19 and two rhinovirus cases and no other dangerous infections. According to Jiefang Daily, the WHO said on October 10 it had found no evidence of ongoing transmission linked to the case, although the pathogen had not yet been confirmed.

Sources: ikon.mn, isee.mn, ubn.mn, mnb.mn, CNA, Jiefang Daily; posts on X (metrics as of 18:30 Oct 14, UB time).