North Korea says COVID-19 explosion under control

Testing for COVID-19 in North Korea

Testing for COVID-19 in North Korea

North Korea on Tuesday announced that the COVID-19 explosion in the country is under control as it records a “stable” downward trend in cases.

This is coming nearly two weeks since it announced a COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

As of Tuesday, May 24, there were no new deaths among fever patients in the country.

The COVID-19 wave, which North Korea first declared on May 12, has fuelled concerns over a lack of vaccines, inadequate medical infrastructure and a potential food crisis in the country of 25 million.

But the North said it was reporting “successes” in stemming the spread of the virus, and that there was no new fever death reported as of Monday evening despite adding 134,510 new patients.

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It marked a third consecutive day the daily figure stayed below 200,000 and the first time for the North to report no new deaths since announcing the number of daily fever patients, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Apparently deprived of testing supplies, North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus, instead, reporting the number with fever symptoms.

According to KCNA, the total number of such cases, tallied in late April, rose to 2.95 million, while the death toll stood at 68.

KCNA added that “In a few days after the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system was activated, the nation-wide morbidity and mortality rates have drastically decreased and the number of recovered persons increased, resulting in effectively curbing and controlling the spread of the pandemic disease and maintaining the clearly stable situation”.

Reuters/NAN

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