OREANDA-NEWS The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) has opened a criminal case on the negligence of officials, which resulted in an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the Saratov Region. 

According to the website of the Investigative Committee for the region on August 26, from 2018 to July 2019, some employees of the region’s executive authorities and local governments did not carry out measures to destroy rodents aimed at preventing HFRS. 

This led to the fact that a significant number of residents of the city and the region fell ill with hemorrhagic fever, one of them later died. 

The case is being investigated under part 2 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (negligence). Investigators of the Investigative Committee conduct interrogations of the injured and senior officials of the authorities. 

In turn, the press service of the regional Ministry of Health told Interfax that, as of August 26, 171 people were in hospitals with suspected illness. 

“Since May, doctors have laboratory-confirmed the diagnosis of 1,462 residents,” the agency’s source said. 

At the end of May, a patient of one of the city’s clinics died of a fever. Due to the outbreak of fever in the city, several mass sports and recreational activities were canceled. 

The last time an outbreak of HFRS in the Saratov region was observed in 2014.