India, Oct. 5 -- A laboratory technician in Russia's Siberian region of Irkutsk has died in what officials and local media have described as a suspected case of pneumonic plague, while around 200 people, who may have come in contact with her, have reportedly been placed under quarantine.

The 28-year-old woman, identified by local media as Darya Shipilova, worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute and may have contracted the infection after a test tube broke at the facility, reported news agency AFP.

Rospotrebnadzor, the country's federal agency overseeing infectious diseases, described the case as "pneumonia of unknown aetiology."

The uncertainty over the exact cause of the woman's death has fuelled concerns about pneumonic plague

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