Covid: N Korea reports 350k cases, six deaths
SEOUL/BEIJING: Six people have died and 350,000 have been treated for a fever that has spread “explosively” across North Korea, state media said Friday, a day after acknowledging a Covid-19 outbreak for the first time in the pandemic.
North Korea likely doesn’t have sufficient Covid-19 tests and said it didn’t know the cause of the mass fevers. But a big Covid-19 outbreak could be devastating in a country with a broken health care system and an unvaccinated, malnourished population.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said of the 350,000 people who developed fevers since late April, 162,200 have recovered.
It said 18,000 people were newly found with fever symptoms on Thursday alone, and 187,800 people are being isolated for treatment.
One of the six people who died was infected with the Omicron variant, KCNA said, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many of the total illnesses were
Covid-19.
North Korea imposed a lockdown on Thursday after acknowledging its first Covid-19 cases. Those reports said tests from an unspecified number of people came back positive for the Omicron variant.
China cracks down on rumour-mongers
Chinese police are investigating a woman for allegedly starting “rumours” that Beijing will enter a three-day lockdown, officials said on Friday, after the claims on social media prompted panic buying across the capital.
China is sticking to a zeroCovid strategy to stamp out clusters as they emerge, hitting hundreds of areas across Beijing with some form of restrictions, including strict lockdowns.
Residents rushed to supermarkets on Thursday to stock up on groceries as rumours spread that stay-at-home orders would soon be announced.
But instead of a lockdown, officials announced a three-day mass testing drive for most of the city and told residents there was no need to panic-buy food.
Beijing police said in a statement on social media that they have launched an investigation into a woman surnamed Yao.
The 38-year-old “fabricated and published the relevant rumours”, the statement said, adding that police have taken “criminal compulsory measures” against her - a broad term that can refer to detention, arrest or home surveillance.
Police have also taken action against a 29-year-old man surnamed Chen for claiming more than 1,000 asymptomatic Covid-19 patients were roaming the Haidian district of the city without masks, the same police notice said.