North Korea says all coronavirus patients ‘cured’

North Korea reported zero cases of “fever” patients for a seventh straight day and said all citizens infected with the coronavirus in the country have now been cured.

“No new cases of fever were recorded last week and all those who had been treated have recovered,” the official KCNA news agency said in a statement today.

The term “fever patients” has been used by North Korean authorities to describe people infected with the coronavirus due to what some say is a lack of diagnostic tests.

North Korea, one of the first countries in the world to close its borders in January 2020 after the virus emerged in neighboring China, has long prided itself on its ability to protect itself against the virus.

Pyongyang announced its first case of the coronavirus on May 12, and its leader Kim Jong Un has taken personal responsibility for fighting the outbreak.

According to KCNA, the epidemiological situation has now “entered a stabilization phase”.

North Korea has recorded nearly 4.8 million infections since the end of April, with only 74 deaths, an official fatality rate of 0.002 percent, according to the news agency.

The country’s hospitals are severely understaffed, with few intensive care units and no available treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus, according to experts. By comparison, neighboring South Korea, which has an efficient health system and a high vaccination rate among its residents, has a death rate of 0.12 percent, according to official figures.

“It’s hard to believe a country that says the number of confirmed cases has suddenly dropped to zero,” Ahn Chat-il, an expert on North Korean studies, told AFP.

“Like its military equipment and its nuclear programs, it seems fair to say that Covid is being used equally to emphasize Kim Jong Un’s leadership and reinforce (the feeling of) loyalty (to him, regardless of the truth).” .

SOURCE: APE-ME