Topline
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un blamed his own government officials for failing to tackle the country’s surging Covid-19 outbreak and ordered his military to step in as the number of suspected cases surged past 1.2 million in just four days since the outbreak was first reported.
People watch a TV screen showing a news program reporting with an image of North Korean leader Kim ... [+]
Key Facts
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the country reported 392,920 new people with “fever” and eight new deaths linked to Covid-19 on Monday.
The state media is only reporting the number of cases with fever—one of many symptoms of Covid—as North Korea is believed to lack adequate supplies to carry out large-scale testing.
Since the start of the current outbreak, North Korea has reported 50 deaths linked to the virus.
At a Politburo meeting of the ruling party on Sunday, Kim blamed the “irresponsible work attitude” of his government and health officials for the country’s botched pandemic response, according to a separate state media report.
The North Korean leader said officials had failed to quickly distribute the state’s medicine reserves and ordered his military’s medical arm to get involved in handling the process.
Kim and other Politburo members also claim they carried out on-site inspections of several pharmacies in Pyongyang, where the North Korean leader found most shops in poor condition and some pharmacists not wearing proper medical gowns.
Big Number
564,860. That’s the total number of people who are still actively being treated for their “fever” while 648,630 patients have recovered, according to KCNA’s report.
Key Background
Last week, Kim ordered a national lockdown after health officials in the country detected multiple Covid-19 cases in Pyongyang caused by the highly infectious BA.2 omicron variant. This was the first time Pyongyang officially acknowledged a Covid-19 outbreak inside its borders. However, experts have doubts over its earlier virus-free claims. The decision to disclose the outbreak was seen by some as a sign that North Korea was seeking international help as the fast-spreading virus threatens to quickly overwhelm its already fragile healthcare system. The country’s problems are further exacerbated by the fact that most of its population is believed to be unvaccinated as North Korea previously refused to accept vaccines offered to it as part of the U.N.-backed COVAX program, in a possible effort to avoid monitoring requirements.
Section Title
Kim blasts pandemic response as North Korean outbreak surges (Associated Press)
Covid Rips Through North Korea As 15 More Deaths And Nearly 300,000 New Cases Reported (Forbes)
