SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea on Wednesday reported 232,880 new cases of fever and six more deaths as leader Kim Jong Un accused officials of “immaturity” and “underdevelopment” in their early response to the COVID outbreak. 19, which ravages the whole country. unvaccinated nation.
The country’s anti-virus headquarters said 62 people had died and more than 1.7 million had fallen ill amid the rapid spread of fever since late April. It says more than a million people have recovered, but at least 691,170 remain in quarantine.
External experts say most of the disease will be COVID-19, although North Korea has only confirmed a small number of cases of COVID-19 since recognizing the Omicron outbreak last week, possibly due to insufficient testing capabilities.
Failure to control the outbreak could have dire consequences for North Korea, given its shattered health care system and its rejection of internationally available vaccines, leaving 26 million people unimmunized.
The outbreak is almost certainly greater than the number of fevers, given the lack of tests and resources to monitor the sick, and there is also a suspicion that North Korea is ignoring the deaths to mitigate the blow to Kim, who was already in at the most difficult moment of its decade in force. The pandemic has further damaged an economy already shattered by mismanagement and US-led sanctions for developing Kim’s nuclear weapons and missiles.
The North Korean Central News Agency said that during a ruling Politburo meeting on Tuesday, Kim criticized officials for their early response to the pandemic, which he said highlighted “immaturity in the state’s capacity to deal with the crisis” and blamed vulnerability for their ” negative attitude, lethargy and inactivity. “
He called on officials to step up control of viruses in the workplace and to “redouble their efforts” to improve the supply of daily necessities and stabilize living conditions, KCNA said on Wednesday.
Kim’s comments came days after he tore up officials on how to handle the distribution of drugs released from state reserves and mobilized his army to help transport supplies to pharmacies in the capital, Pyongyang, which were open 24 hours a day. dealing with the crisis.
KCNA said nearly 3,000 members of the Korean People’s Army’s medical units are helping to deliver drugs to pharmacies, while more than 1.4 million employees, teachers and students in the public health sector have been sent for human identification examinations. with symptoms so that they can be quarantined.
With a lack of public health tools such as vaccines, antiviral pills and intensive care units that reduce hospitalizations and deaths in other nations, North Korea relies on finding people with symptoms and isolating them in shelters.
While raising concerns about the epidemic, Kim also stressed that his economic goals must be achieved. State media reports show that large groups of workers continue to gather on farms, mining facilities, power plants and construction sites, arguing to ensure that their work is “on schedule”.
Before acknowledging COVID-19 infections last Thursday, North Korea insisted on a perfect record in protecting against the virus, reaching almost anywhere in the world, a claim that was widely questioned. But its extremely strict border closures, large-scale quarantines and propaganda, which have emphasized anti-virus control as a matter of “national existence”, may have prevented a huge epidemic so far.
It is unclear whether North’s acceptance of COVID-19 as a hotbed indicates a willingness to accept external assistance. The Kim government has avoided millions of vaccines offered by the UN-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly due to international monitoring requirements.
North Korea and Eritrea are the only sovereign UN member states that have not introduced vaccines. The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adanom Gebrejesus, told a briefing Tuesday that the agency had offered to send vaccines, drugs, tests and technical support to both countries, but neither side has yet responded.
“The WHO is deeply concerned about the risk of further spread to (North Korea),” Tedros said, noting that the country has an alarming number of people with comorbidities who put them at risk of serious illness.
WHO Emergency Situations Chief Dr Michael Ryan said any uncontrolled transmission in countries such as North Korea and Eritrea could spur new options, but that the WHO was powerless to act unless the countries accepted its help.
The North has so far ignored South Korea’s rival’s offer to provide vaccines, drugs and health personnel, but experts say the North may be more willing to accept aid from its main ally, China. The South Korean government said it could not confirm media reports that North Korea had flown multiple planes to return emergency supplies from China on Tuesday.
During Tuesday’s meeting, North Korean officials continued to express confidence that the country could overcome the crisis on its own, with Politburo members discussing ways to “maintain a good chance on the overall front to prevent the epidemic,” KCNA said.
While Kim was seen wearing masks for the first time since North Korea’s recognition of COVID-19 infections last week, state media photos from Tuesday’s meeting showed Kim and members of the Politburo engaging in face-to-face discussions, such as possible expression of trust.
The explosion of COVID-19 in North Korea came amid provocative circulations in gun demonstrations, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in nearly five years, on the verge of forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic discounts and rebates for security from a position of force.
There are also signs that the North is rebuilding a nuclear test site, which was last active in 2017 in preparation for the resumption of nuclear explosion tests, which US and South Korean officials say could happen this month.
The latest commercial satellite images of the Punggye-ri test site show repairs and preparation of a still unused tunnel in the southern part of the site, which is likely to be completed for a nuclear test, according to an analysis published Tuesday by Beyond Parallel, a website run by from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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