North Korean media claims ‘fever’ cases are falling
North Korea’s number of daily “fever” cases has dropped below 200,000, the country’s state media reported yesterday.
It reported “a positive trend” after taking measures to control the country’s first acknowledged outbreak of Covid-19.
The coronavirus wave, declared on May 12, has fuelled concern about a lack of vaccines, inadequate medical infrastructure and a potential food crisis in the country of 25.7 million. Pyongyang has refused most outside help, kept its borders closed and allows no independent confirmation of official data.
North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus. Instead, the country’s health authorities report the number with fever symptoms.
Experts have said this makes assessing the extent of the outbreak difficult.
About 186,000 other people had fevers and one more person died, the state news agency KCNA reported yesterday. More than two million of the 2.6 million cumulative cases had recovered, the agency said.
The official death toll in North Korea stands at 67.
“The current situation of the epidemic spread in the DPRK shows a positive trend away from a rapid growth in the beginning to a decline after being stably controlled and managed, registering daily increased number of recoveries across the country,” KCNA reported, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.
Last year, the country said it had developed its own PCR tests, “hastening the development of new test reagent and antibody test reagent for early detection of the epidemic”.
The authorities said they had distributed food and medicine across the country.
More than one million health care workers, including medical students and teachers, had been mobilised to conduct health checks “to thoroughly block and eradicate the source of spread,” the report said.