On Saturday it was confirmed that Westerners still trapped in the area and prevented from leaving include tourists from the U.S., Holland, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. The tourists have been stranded despite local health officials stressing that "they do not think that the situation with the plague is critical or anywhere near epidemic. The couple, a 38-year-old man and his 37-year-old wife, fell ill after eating the kidneys from a contaminated marmot. Without treatment, the plague kills up to 90% of those infected within ten days. "We spoke to local administration, to local police," one of the trapped tourists said from their hotel, "but they didn’t allow us out."

Source: Forbes May 05, 2019 05:41 UTC