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Reuters Pak Jong Chon, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, inspects a pharmacy amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, in Pyongyang in this undated photo released on Tuesday by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Reuters
11:53 JST, May 21, 2022
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea reported more than 200,000 new patients suffering from fever for a fifth consecutive day as the country fights its first confirmed coronavirus outbreak, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Saturday, citing the North’s state broadcaster.
The ongoing COVID wave, declared last week, has fueled concerns over a lack of vaccines, inadequate medical infrastructure and a potential food crisis in the country of 25 million that has refused outside help and kept its borders shut. Read full story
At least 219,030 people showed fever symptoms as of Friday evening, taking the total number of such cases to 2,460,640, the official Korean Central Television (KCTV) reported citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters, according to Yonhap. The death toll rose by one to 66.
Yonhap did not specify how many people had tested positive for the virus, and Reuters could not independently verify the report.
With no national vaccination campaign and limited testing capability, the daily data released by state media could be underreported, and it may be difficult to assess the scale of the COVID wave, experts have said.
The U.N. human rights agency has warned of “devastating” consequences for its 25 million people, while World Health Organization said an unchecked spread could lead to the emergence of deadlier new variants.
