North Korea has 220,000 more fever cases, Kim Jong-un presides over Politburo meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a pharmacy in Pyongyang on May 15 AFP

The above new figures bring the total number of deaths and the number of fever-symptomatic cases to 66 and 2.46 million, respectively, since North Korea on May 12 confirmed that there was an outbreak. First case of Covid-19. Of which, 1.76 million cases have recovered and 692,480 cases are being treated. KCNA did not specify how many of the people with fever symptoms were positive for Covid-19.

North Korean media use the word “person with a fever,” instead of a Covid-19 patient or a confirmed case, possibly because North Korea lacks test kits or other equipment to confirm infections, according to Yonhap.

Also according to today’s KCNA, leader Kim Jong-un chaired a meeting of the Politburo of the Workers’ Party of Korea to discuss strategies in the “war against the epidemic”. Mr. Kim emphasized the need to “optimize” policy epidemic prevention and take all possible steps to restore the economy at the same time.

Although the number of new suspected cases is still high, North Korea is optimistic about the fight against the epidemic. KCNA stressed that “the spread of the disease has now been stably controlled and the foundations of national epidemic prevention have been consolidated, thanks to an orderly system”.

Meanwhile, Reuters today quoted a US official as describing the situation Covid-19 in North Korea “quite serious”. Some experts say that with no vaccination campaign and limited testing capacity, daily data published by North Korean media may not be close to reality and it is difficult to assess the extent of the infection. current outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.