North Korea responds to first Covid-19 outbreak

The KCNA news agency said the BA.2 variant of Omicron was found, but did not specify the number of cases. According to KCNA, leader Kim Jong-un presided over a meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea to discuss measures to deal with the outbreak.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that as of March 2022, there have not been any reports of Covid-19 cases or vaccinated people in North Korea. Over the past time, according to The New York Times, North Korea has repeatedly rejected requests to provide Covid-19 vaccines from the international community. For example, the country last year said no to 2.97 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine on the grounds that the vaccines should be “shipped to severely affected countries”. Russian officials also said that Pyongyang has repeatedly refused to accept Moscow’s offers of a vaccine for Sputnik. Therefore, some experts fear that the North Korean people are very vulnerable to the virus that causes Covid-19. And yet, after imposing some strict border control measures at the beginning of the pandemic, North Korea has also rejected other offers for shipments of medical equipment and protective supplies.

Leader Kim Jong-un chairs a meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea to discuss measures to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic Photo: KCNA

In China, large-scale tests still take place daily in the city of Shanghai and people are hoping that the blockade measure will be eased after the number of new cases continued to decline on May 12. On the same day, Beijing officials said the number of new cases within 24 hours was 36. In an effort to control the epidemic, city authorities a day earlier ordered the suspension of taxi services and high-tech ride-hailing in the city. 3 districts.

Meanwhile, according to the Bangkok Post, Thailand on May 12 recorded 8,019 new Covid-19 cases and 59 deaths in 24 hours. Notably, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has just agreed to open an investigation to find out why so many people still die from Covid-19 despite being vaccinated with 3 doses of the vaccine. According to Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, about 7% of people infected with Covid-19 after receiving 3 injections died. Records show that most of these deaths were among the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.