North Korea reports 6 deaths after admitting COVID-19 outbreak


Seoul, South Korea –

North Korea said on Friday that six people have died and 350,000 have been treated for a fever that has spread “explosively” across the country, a day after it first acknowledged an outbreak of COVID-19.

The true scale is unclear, but a large outbreak of COVID-19 could be devastating in a country with a broken health care system and a population that is malnourished and unvaccinated. North Korea, which probably does not have enough COVID-19 tests and other medical equipment, said it was not aware of the case of the mass fevers.

North Korea’s official Central News Agency said that of the 350,000 people who developed a fever since late April, 162,200 have recovered. He said 18,000 people were recently found with fever symptoms on Thursday alone, and 187,800 people are being isolated for treatment.

One of the six people who died was confirmed to be infected with the Omicron variant, KCNA said, but it was not immediately clear how many of the total illnesses were COVID-19.

North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown on Thursday after acknowledging an outbreak of COVID-19 for the first time in the pandemic. Those reports said an unspecified number of people tested positive for the Omicron variant.

The spread of the virus may have been accelerated by a massive military parade in Pyongyang on April 25, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took center stage and displayed the most powerful missiles from his military nuclear program in front of dozens of of thousands.

Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, said the pace of the fever’s spread suggests the crisis could last for months and possibly as late as 2023, causing major upheavals in the poorly equipped country.

Some experts say the North’s initial announcement communicates a willingness to receive outside help. It has previously rejected vaccines offered by the UN-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because they have international monitoring requirements.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the South was willing to provide medical and other aid to North Korea based on humanitarian considerations.

KCNA said Kim was told about the fever when he visited the emergency epidemic prevention headquarters on Thursday and criticized officials for failing to prevent “a vulnerable point in the epidemic prevention system.”

He said the spread of the fever has been centered around the capital Pyongyang and nearby areas, stressing the importance of isolating all work, production and residential units from each other while providing residents with all the comforts during the closure.

“It is the most important challenge and supreme tasks facing our party to reverse the immediate public health crisis situation at an early date, restore the stability of epidemic prevention, and protect the health and well-being of our people,” Kim said. cited by KCNA. .

North Korea’s claim of a perfect record in keeping the virus at bay for two and a half years was widely questioned. But South Korean officials have said North Korea had likely avoided a major outbreak so far, in part because it instituted strict virus controls almost from the start of the pandemic.

Describing its campaign against the coronavirus as a matter of “national existence,” North Korea had severely restricted cross-border traffic and trade and is even believed to have ordered troops to shoot trespassers crossing its borders.

The border closures further hit an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program, thrusting Kim into the most difficult moment of his rule since he took power in 2011.

Hours after confirming the outbreak on Thursday, North Korea launched three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea and Japan said, in what was possibly a show of force after Kim publicly acknowledged the virus outbreak. It was North Korea’s 16th round of missile launches this year.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the United States supported international relief efforts but does not plan to share its vaccine supplies with the North.

“We continue to support international efforts to provide critical humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable North Koreans, and this is, of course, a broader part of the DPRK that continues to exploit its own citizens by not accepting this type of aid,” Psaki said on Monday. Thursday in Washington, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“This is not just about vaccines. It is also a range of humanitarian assistance that could greatly help the people and the country and instead divert resources to build their illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”


Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.



Reference-www.ctvnews.ca

Leave a Comment