NEW DELHI -- India acknowledged its first plague deaths in New Delhi and Britain reported the first suspected cases outside India on Friday as more countries took tough action to protect themselves from the medieval scourge.


Although only 50 people -- a tiny number in a country of 900 million -- have died from the pneumonic plague that began in India's far west, the impact of the 2,400 suspected cases has reverberated round the world.


In Moscow, Russian health experts urged the government Friday to impose a ban on all travel to India. The country's epidemic watchdog committee said the ban should apply to all Russians except diplomats and official delegations.


India is a popular destination for Russian business travelers and vendors who buy goods in Delhi and other large cities to resell them in Russia.


Yury Solovyov, the panel's chief expert, said an official decision on Russian travel restrictions is expected shortly.


Suspected cases have been reported in seven of India's 26 states, from Gujarat on the west coast where the plague first erupted to Calcutta on the east coast.


But India begged governments, trading partners and tourists not to overreact to the plague -- now easily cured, unlike the medieval "Black Death" that decimated Europe and Asia.