StarHit and Daily Mail links accompanied verification of a possible second case

Reuters, the international news agency, reported that after the 7 October briefing WHO (World Health Organization) supplied links to a StarHit story about a possible second case and a subsequent Daily Mail article. Reuters separately said it found no evidence of a second death. This describes an exchange with journalists, not a medical finding.

In a located StarHit article dated 6 October, Yana Lyaskovskaya claimed another employee had pneumonia and attributed the information to Rospotrebnadzor (Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing). No separate document supporting that employee’s illness is supplied. Whether WHO sent Reuters this exact article remains unestablished.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, requested verification of reports of a second employee with pneumonia. Another illness and a second death are different claims; the request confirms neither. Reuters also relayed his explanation that the organisation does not determine the credibility of media reports.

Rospotrebnadzor’s 4 October statement described one employee’s illness and said no new infectious-disease consultations by institute staff had been recorded. On 8 October it denied a second person falling ill after contact with her. The collected materials contain no medical documents establishing whether these reports refer to the same people.

Added on 8 October to clarify information transmission. StarHit: 6 October 03:00 UTC, modified 07:01:55 UTC (Irkutsk 11:00 and 15:01:55). Reuters copy at Devdiscourse: 7 October 18:06:46 UTC (Irkutsk 8 October 02:06:46); Sight: 8 October 00:30:55 UTC (08:30:55). Exact link-sharing time unknown. UTC means Coordinated Universal Time.