North Korea's Covid-19 outbreak, the world seeks humanitarian support
With nearly 300,000 cases of “fever” symptoms and 15 deaths in one day, the first outbreak in North Korea is spreading at a very fast rate; threatening the country’s health system. The world is looking for ways to quickly provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on May 15 that the country recorded 15 more deaths and 296,180 people with fever symptoms. These were the numbers counted from the evening of May 13 to the evening of May 14; bringing the total number of deaths to 42 and the total number of people with fever symptoms since the end of April to more than 800,000. Of these, more than half have recovered and nearly 325,000 are still undergoing treatment.
KCNA added,Chosenhave taken “emergency measures” to limit the spread of the virus. And the increase in deaths is due to “carelessness in using drugs due to lack of knowledge and understanding about the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 infection and treatment methods”.
North Korea has locked down all provinces and cities across the country since May 12 to prevent the spread of the virus after leader Kim Jong-un chaired a Politburo meeting and confirmed that the spread of Covid-19 is causing “great turmoil” since the country’s founding. North Korea is focusing on training propaganda staff nationwide on the disease and measures to prevent and combat the disease, in parallel with efforts to provide emergency treatment drugs to medical facilities to treat patients.
Experts are concerned that the number of Covid-19 cases in North Korea could increase in the coming time; they are concerned that North Korea's current testing capacity, as well as the health system, will face overload.
Faced with the outbreak in North Korea, the world is urgently seeking humanitarian aid for the country, especially medical equipment, vaccines and treatment drugs. The United Nations, South Korea, China and Russia have made the first offers of support.
Most recently, in a phone call on May 14, new South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed to maintain consultations with each other, as well as with international partners, to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea. The exchange took place right after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol wanted to exchange information with North Korea on the epidemic situation and also offered to send Covid-19 vaccines to Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also confirmed that he is in contact with North Korea to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in the country in the face of complicated epidemic developments; at the same time, he declared his readiness to support North Korea if requested.
“China and North Korea are friendly neighbors. We are deeply concerned about the Covid-19 situation in North Korea and we believe that under the leadership of the North Korean government and leadership, the people of this country will be able to defeat the pandemic. China is willing to strengthen cooperation in fighting the pandemic and provide support and assistance according to the needs of North Korea,” Zhao Lijian said.
The United Nations is urging North Korea to allow its staff into the country to assess the situation and provide necessary assistance./.