Russia plays down plague reports after lab worker death

Russia on Monday sought to play down reports that a laboratory technician had died of plague, even as US President Donald Trump said Washington was closely monitoring the situation and offered US help. Reports on Friday that pneumonic plague had killed a 28-year-old woman named Darya Shipilova, who had been working for the anti-plague institute in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, sparked alarm. “We’re lo