More than 60 institute workers were isolated, according to accounts collected by a news outlet

On October 5, Siberia.Realities published accounts that more than 60 workers at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute had been isolated since October 2.

Interviewees described restrictions and sleeping at their workplaces. Sources included colleagues, patients and relatives; some names were incomplete. The outlet’s attribution of these accounts does not replace independent verification of each witness.

Relevant reports identify Sergey Balakhonov as the institute’s director. No separate personal statement from him about the episode has been established; statements by Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, are not attributed to him.

The order governing institute operations, the access log and individual isolation orders have not been obtained. The overlap between workers and the group of 197 contacts has not been established either, so the figures cannot be added together.