North Korea: Coronavirus outbreak – At least six dead and more than 187,000 quarantined

Six people with “fever” succumbed to North Koreaat least one of whom was laboratory confirmed to have suffered from COVID-19it was announced the day after the official admission that an outbreak of the new coronavirus was located in the capital of the isolated country of Asia.

“Fever, the cause of which has not been determined, has been spreading at an explosive rate throughout the country since the end of April” and “e“Six people died (one of whom was confirmed to be infected with Omicron subtype BA.2).”a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the official KCNA news agency reported.

More than 187,000 people with “fever” have been “isolated” and “offered medical care”, according to the same img.

“So far, 187,800 people have been isolated and are receiving medical treatment,” the KCNA said, adding that 18,000 people had symptoms on Tuesday alone.

The leader of North Korea, the Kim Jong Unvisited the administration center for dealing with the epidemic to be informed about the situation and the reaction of the authorities, after declaring “emergency situation” and ordered lockdown across the country. He criticized the fact that a “weak point in the epidemic prevention system” was revealed, according to the KCNA.

The outbreak underscores the risk of a major crisis in the country, where the health system has limited reimgs, which exacerbates the fact that it does not accept international vaccination assistance and keeps borders closed.

Analysts say the health crisis could worsen food shortages as it will hamper the “national effort” to tackle the problem, which is partly due to the drought affecting North Korea.