North Korea reports hundreds of thousands of fever cases
According to the report, Tuesday’s numbers take the country’s total fever infections to more than 1.7 mn
ORTH Korea reported on Wednesday that 232,000 cases of people suffering from fever had been registered the day before, as a wave of CO ID-1 rips through the country.
Citing the country’s epidemic prevention centre, the national media also reported six further fever-related deaths, taking the total to 2.
According to experts, the country does not have sufficient testing capacities to ascertain whether people are suffering from CO ID-1 , and therefore reports fevers instead.
According to the report, Tuesday’s numbers take the country’s total fever infections to more than 1. million. Of these, more than 1 million have recovered, with around 1,000 people receiving medical care.
orth Korea, which is under authoritarian rule and all but sealed off from the rest of the world, only officially confirmed its first cases of Covid-1 last Thursday.
It has been following a zero-CO IDstrategy for the last two years, having closed its borders early in the pandemic to prevent the virus entering the country. ow, however, the government has imposed a country-wide lockdown in order to slow the spread of the epidemic, as well as launching information campaigns warning people of the dangers of the Omicron variant and offering treatment advice and rules for avoiding infection.
orth Korean ruler Kim Jong Un accused high-ranking ministers of not reacting to the outbreak fast enough at a meeting of the politburo, according to state media.
He reportedly alleged that their carelessness and lack of activity created weaknesses in the epidemic prevention system.
orth Korea has been offered vaccines and medical equipment by the CO A initiative directed by the World Health Organization WHO , as well as by its neighbours China and South Korea.
As of Wednesday, the government in Pyongyang has not responded to these offers, although unconfirmed reports suggest that the country has sent aeroplanes to China to pick up medical supplies.
Experts do not think it likely that orth Korea will accept help from South Korea, as their strongman ruler Kim would regard this as a loss of face.
Relations between the two countries remain tense amid orth Korea’s ongoing programme of illegal missile tests. However, the public health crisis may be an opportunity to ease the tension.
South Korea’s Sejong Institute expert Paik Hak Soon said that, if orth Korea accepts, the delivery of vaccines would be the start of a dialogue.