WHO worries about new variants from unvaccinated people like in North Korea

Military medical force North Korea participate in distributing medicine to deal with Covid-19 in Pyongyang on May 16 afp

Reuters news agency on May 17 quoted the Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Emergencies Program. Mike Ryan expressed concern about infection Covid-19 in many people who have not been vaccinated as in North Korea will increase the risk of the emergence of new variants.

“Definitely worrying if countries don’t use existing tools. WHO has repeatedly said that there is always a high risk of new variants emerging if uncontrolled transmission occurs,” he replied to a question about the situation. Covid-19 in North Korea.

Also at the press conference, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned” about the spread of Covid-19 among people who have not been vaccinated and have many underlying diseases.

According to KCNA on May 17, the North Korean military “is urgently deploying forces to all drugstores in the capital, Pyongyang, and begins to distribute medicines to the people.”

In addition, more than 10,000 medical staff were mobilized to trace contacts from Covid-19 infections. As of the afternoon of May 16, the number of deaths had increased to 56, with more than 1,486,060 cases of fever and at least 663,910 people being treated. There is still no official information on the number of people who tested positive for Covid-19.

According to Yonhap, North Korea has not yet responded to the request of Korea brought up the previous day about the discussion to help fight the epidemic.

Ministry of Unification Korea on May 16, faxed through the liaison office, asking to organize an emergency consultation on the epidemic in North Korea and support vaccines, masks and testing equipment.