Kim calls for unity in outbreak
North Korea yesterday reported 21 new deaths and 174,440 more people with fever symptoms as the country scrambled to slow the spread of Covid-19 across its unvaccinated population.
The new deaths and cases increased total numbers to 27 deaths and 524,440 illnesses amid a rapid spread of fever since late April.
State media didn’t specify how many of the fever cases and deaths were confirmed as Covid-19.
The country imposed nationwide lockdowns on Thursday after confirming its first Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, during a meeting on antivirus strategies, described the outbreak as a historically “huge disruption” and called for unity between the government and people to stabilise the outbreak as quickly as possible.
Kim expressed optimism the country could bring the outbreak under control, saying most transmissions were within isolated communities. The country since Thursday has restricted movement of people and supplies between cities and counties.
Experts said a failure to control the spread of Covid-19 could have devastating consequences in North Korea, considering its poor healthcare system and that its 26 million people were largely unvaccinated.
Tests of virus samples collected in the country’s capital, Pyongyang, confirmed Omicron, state media said.
North Korea’s pandemic response would be mostly about isolating people with symptoms at designated shelters, experts said.
It did not have the resources to impose extreme lockdowns like China, nor could it afford to at the risk of unleashing further shock on a fragile economy, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification.