North Korea reports positive trend in fight against COVID-19

North Korean media reported on May 22 that for the first time in nearly 10 days, fever cases in the country fell below 200,000, showing a positive trend after measures were taken to control the outbreak. outbreak COVID-19 first in this country.

The COVID wave in North Korea was announced on May 12, raising concerns about the lack of vaccines, medical infrastructure and other possible socioeconomic impacts in the nation of 25 million. people. Pyongyang previously refused most outside help, taking measures to close the border to fight the epidemic.

North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people who have tested positive for the virus so far. However, according to the state news agency KCNA reported on May 22, more than 186,090 people have fever symptoms and 1 more person has died. In addition, more than 2 million of the 2.6 million symptomatic cases have been recovered. The official death toll is 67.

“The current situation of the epidemic in North Korea shows a positive trend, from the rapid growth rate at the beginning to a decline after the epidemic is controlled and managed stably, the number of recoveries increasing daily nationwide,”KCNA said.

In 2021, North Korea said it had developed its own polymerase chain reaction (PCR) device to conduct COVID-19 tests. According to KCNANorth Korea is also “accelerate the development of new test reagents and antibody test reagents for early disease detection”.

Authorities meanwhile distributed food and medicine across the country, and military medics were deployed to help distribute drugs and conduct tests. More than 1 million medical staff, including medical students and teachers, mobilized to conduct health checks “in order to prevent and completely eliminate the source of transmission”, the report added.

After more than two years, North Korea confirmed its first case on May 12, saying it was infected with BA.2, a subline of the highly contagious variant of Omicron and often referred to as “stealth” Omicrons. “.

KCNA called it a “serious emergency of the country” due to “a hole in the emergency isolation line that has been kept safe for the past 2 years and 3 months since February 2020”.

The United Nations official called on North Korean officials to assess the impact of anti-epidemic measures on vulnerable populations, and learn from the experiences of places that have effectively fought the epidemic. Countries should ease sanctions to provide emergency humanitarian assistance and help North Korea deal with the epidemic.