Following a suspected case of the deadly bubonic plague (which caused the dreaded ‘Black Death’ pandemic centuries ago), in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, authorities are on high alert.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that a case was discovered in the city of Bayannur which is located in the northwest region of Beijing.

On Saturday, the hospital alerted municipal authorities about the patient, and by Sunday, the local authorities issued a citywide Level 3 warning of plague prevention, reports LiveMint.

Xinhua reports that the Level 3 warning will stay in place till the end of the year.

“At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability and report abnormal health conditions promptly,” the local health authority said, according to state-run newspaper China Daily.

However, the World Health Organisation has stated that the apparent outbreak of the bubonic plague is being “well managed”.

“We are monitoring the outbreaks in China, we are watching that closely and in partnership with the Chinese authorities and Mongolian authorities,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a U.N. press briefing in Geneva.

“At the moment we are not…considering it high-risk but we are watching it, monitoring it carefully,” she added.