WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump on Monday at the White House told reporters that the United States will help Russia after a laboratory worker died at a plague research institute in Siberia.

Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Nebraska that the outbreak is a “big problem for Russia.”

A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in ​Siberia fell ill and died in undisclosed circumstances, prompting authorities to quarantine dozens of ‌people.

The death has sparked public health fears on social media, but Russian authorities said on Monday the situation was under control.

“Well, I hate to see them having it,” Trump said. “It’s a rough disease.”

He said the US would do what it could to help Russia. Trump has said he considers Russian President Vladimir Putin someone whom he can work with despite tensions over Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“We’ll help,” Trump said. “Anybody that has that kind of a problem, we’re always will to help.”

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Trevor Hunnicutt and Bo Erickson; editing by Michelle Nichols and Caitlin Webber)