Emergency quarantine protocols are in place in Irkutsk after a suspected laboratory accident

Russian health authorities have reportedly placed hundreds of people in quarantine in Siberia following the death of a laboratory worker who was exposed to an “unknown” virus.

The 28-year-old victim was an employee at the Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov, a town near the regional capital of Irkutsk, according to reports.

Prior to her death, she reportedly told medical personnel that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live biological samples while working inside the facility.