Did Russia play by the rules in reporting lab worker's death?
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One of the core obligations in the law "is that parties or states must notify WHO within 24 hours of detecting a [serious health] event," explains Phelan.

Some events – like a case of smallpox or a new type of influenza — should immediately trigger a notification. For other situations, a checklist helps a country assess whether notification is needed.

Each year, she says, WHO receives thousands of notifications from all over the world and most turn out to be nothing.

The situation in Russia

Some people fear the Russian woman — who died Oct. 2 — had pneumonic plague. That's one of the diseases "explicitly listed" under IHR, says Phelan, as something to assess and notify the WHO.

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