WASHINGTON, October 7. /TASS/. The United States does not believe that the case of pneumonia of unknown etiology detected in the Irkutsk Region happened as a result of biological weapons research being done by Russia, US President Donald Trump said.

"Well, we don't think so. We're going to find out soon enough, but we don't think so," he said in response to reporters’ questions at the White House about whether the case could be linked to biological weapons research.

On October 4, the Russian Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being (Rospotrebnadzor) said the sanitary and epidemiological situation in Russia’s eastern Irkutsk Region was stable. The agency said it had launched a special set of measures after an employee of the Siberia and Far East Research Anti-Plague Institute in Irkutsk was diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown etiology. Expanded tests found no microorganisms in samples from the patient associated with her professional activities.