North Korea records 21 deaths due to ‘fever’ amid the COVID-19 outbreak

People watch a news program with a photo of leader Kim Jong Un wearing a mask in Tokyo, Japan on May 13 – Photo: AP

According to KCNA on May 14, North Korea has about 280,810 symptomatic COVID-19 cases being isolated and treated.

A day earlier, KCNA reported that since the epidemic spread nationwide from April 2022, North Korea has recorded a total of more than 350,000 cases, of which about 187,800 cases are being isolated for treatment and about 162,000 cases have been treated. treated.

In the news on May 13, KCNA also provided data on the number of COVID-19 cases in North Korea for the first time, and confirmed that the country had one death caused by the Omicron variant. Accordingly, the country has an additional 18,000 symptomatic cases on May 12.

Thus, according to Reuters, North Korea has so far recorded 27 deaths from fever of unknown origin since the outbreak in April. North Korean media did not say whether the new fever deaths were due to COVID-19.

Reports on the epidemic situation were given at the meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the morning of May 14.

Also during this meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the current outbreak is a great disaster for the country. However, Kim Jong Un affirmed that Pyongyang can overcome this disaster, and can learn from Beijing’s anti-epidemic experiences.

According to the North Korean leader, the current health crisis is caused by the weakness and irresponsibility in the way of fighting the epidemic of government agencies, and it is necessary to make efforts to overcome it to be able to control the epidemic in a short time. the shortest.

Earlier, on May 13, South Korea offered to support North Korea with a vaccine, and said Seoul would discuss with Pyongyang other specific support measures. On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would consider quickly any request for vaccine supplies from North Korea.

Meanwhile, the White House said the US currently has no plans to share vaccines with North Korea because Pyongyang has repeatedly refused to receive vaccine funding from the global vaccine sharing project COVAX.