For two years, North Korea claimed not to be affected by the corona pandemic. A case was mentioned for the first time on Wednesday. Now it should be more than 350,000.
The report on the number of people now infected came a day after ruler Kim Jong Un (38) described the situation as a “major national emergency”.
Six dead, one tested for Corona
On Thursday alone, North Korea reported 18,000 new “cases of an unknown fever”. The state news agency KCNA announced that there were six deaths. One had tested positive for subvariant BA.2 of the omicron virus. It is unclear whether the other dead were tested.
It says: “A fever, the cause of which could not be determined, has spread explosively throughout the country since the end of April.” 187,800 people are in isolation. Overall, the state medium speaks of around 350,000 cases of “fever”.
The Corona outbreak could prove disastrous for North Korea. It is assumed that the health system is ailing. In addition, North Korea has apparently not imported any vaccines. There is also no information that a proprietary vaccine has been developed. The country had rejected vaccination offers from other countries.
North Korea has no vaccines, South Korea wants to help out
Now South Korea would like to help out its foreclosed neighbors. President Yoon Suk Yeol is offering North Korea to deliver corona vaccines and other medical supplies, the presidential office in Seoul said on Friday. A spokesman for Yoon expressed his hope of being able to discuss the details of aid with North Korea. The number of suspected corona cases in North Korea seems to have increased explosively due to a massive outbreak.
At first it was unclear whether North Korea had asked for help and whether both countries had already made contact. The situation on the Korean peninsula is currently tense after a series of ballistic missile tests by North Korea. These are usually surface-to-surface missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead.
From North Korea it was said in the entire two-year pandemic that there was no case. Until Wednesday. Internationally, hardly anyone believes that the country with its around 25 million inhabitants has been spared the virus. However, there were no official reports of deaths either. Until now. (euc/chs/SDA)