Bubonic plague has been reported from a city in China’s Inner Mongolia region and health authorities have issued a warning till the end of the year

Suspected cases of bubonic plague have been reported in a town in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, barely six months after the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country’s Wuhan city which later turned into a global pandemic.

Issuing a third level warning that will be in place till the end of this year, civic authorities in Bayannur have warned of the risk of human-to-human transmission of the bubonic plague disease.

News reports quoted local health authorities as saying that the infection was caused due to the consumption of marmot meat. Marmot is a kind of a rodent.

“One suspected case of bubonic plague has been reported in Bayannur, N China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the local health commission said on Sunday. The city announced to launch a level III emergency response to prevent and control the plague,” the People’s Daily China said on Twitter.



People have been advised to increase self-protection and avoid hunting and eating meat of animals that cause the bubonic plague, according to a China Global Television Network (CGTN) report. Nearly 150 people who had come in contact with the two suspected cases have been kept in isolation.

According to the World Health Organisation, bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas from rodents to other animals and humans.

Last year, there were reports that two persons had died due to bubonic plague in western Mongolia after consuming marmot meat.

Bubonic plague, known as ‘Black Death’ in the Middle Ages, is a highly infectious disease. Nearly 50-60% of the cases can be fatal in the absence of prompt and effective treatment, according to the WHO.

Reports of these suspected cases of bubonic plague came even as the Chinese health authorities are battling a second wave of Covid-19 cases, particularly in the national capital Beijing.