Risk of disease spread, if high-threat pathogens in health labs are not destroyed – WHO

Speaking to Reuters, the WHO expressed that the agency has collaborated with the Ukrainian public health labs to ensure security practices and prevent the accidental or deliberate release of pathogens for years.

“As part of this work, WHO has strongly recommended to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine and other responsible bodies to destroy high-threat pathogens to prevent any potential spills,” the WHO, a United Nations agency, said.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Zakharova said that documents unearthed by Russian forces in Ukraine showed “an emergency attempt to erase evidence of military biological programmes” by destroying lab samples.

Responding to the allegations, a Ukrainian presidential spokesperson said: “Ukraine strictly denies any such allegation.” Also, the U.S. government spokespeople also strongly denied Zakharova’s accusations, saying that Russia may use its claims as a pretext to deploy its own chemical or biological weapons.