North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who claims that the outbreak has not spread in the country from the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak until recently, has called the military to combat the outbreak.
According to North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim warned that it was too late to distribute to pharmacies what is needed for the treatment of Covid-19 from state-owned drug reserves.
Although the emergency decree issued at the Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea stated that medicines in state reserves should be urgently distributed to pharmacies and pharmacies should be open 24 hours a day, Kim said that this decision was not properly implemented.
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Kim has ordered the military’s medical unit to step in stabilizing the supply of medicines in the capital, Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Korea could send vaccines, medicines, medical equipment and medical personnel to fight the outbreak.
South Korean officials said North Korea has so far not asked them for any help with the outbreak.
The number of people with fever has exceeded 1 million
Officials of the North Korean epidemic response office announced that 392 thousand 920 people had high fever in the last 24 hours and 8 people lost their lives. Thus, the number of people with high fever in North Korea rose to 1.2 million and the number of those who lost their lives to 50.
No information was given as to how many of those with high fever symptoms had been diagnosed with Covid-19.
In North Korea, which has a population of about 26 million, there has been no announcement so far that the public has been vaccinated against Covid-19.
The first cases were announced on May 12.
The first case of Covid-19 was detected in North Korea on May 12. While no information on the number of cases was shared, it was stated that the cases were the sub-variant of Omikron known as “BA.2”.
Following the identified cases, a “state of emergency” was declared in the country, while North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for a “curfew” to be imposed in all provinces and districts in the country in an attempt to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
It was announced that 6 people died in the country on May 13, and it was officially announced that only one of these people was caused by the Omikron variant of Covid-19.
A major outbreak in North Korea, where the health system is not very good and the people are not vaccinated against Covid-19, could lead to a humanitarian crisis.
North Korea has rejected an offer of millions of doses of vaccines made by the World Health Organization’s Global Access Program for Covid-19 Vaccines (COVAX), which aims to ensure equal access to vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.
North Korea claims that the epidemic has not spread in the country thanks to decisive measures, while the closed border gates are said to have dealt a serious blow to the country’s economy.
