SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea on Monday announced 8 new deaths and 392,920 deaths amid a worsening COVID -19 outbreak after leader Kim Jong Un criticized officials for delays in delivering drugs and ordering their troops to intervene. Response to the pandemic in the capital Pyongyang.
According to the Northern Emergency Antivirus Headquarters, more than 1.2 million people have fallen ill due to the rapid spread of fever since the end of April, and approximately 564,860 are currently in quarantine. Eight new deaths recorded between midnight and 6pm on Sunday brought his death toll to 50.
State media did not specify how many cases of fever and death were confirmed as COVID-19 cases. Experts say North Korea is likely to lack testing supplies and equipment to detect large numbers of corovirus infections and relies heavily on isolating people with symptoms to shelters.
Experts say that failure to slow down the virus could have serious consequences for North Korea because of its weak health care system. Its population of 26 million is estimated to have largely not been vaccinated since their government avoided the millions of poaching proposed by the UN-supported COVAX distribution program, possibly due to concerns about the requirements in international monitoring.
North Korea recognized its first COVID-19 outbreak on Thursday when it announced that an unknown number of people in Pyongyang had tested positive for the Omicron outbreak. Previously, for more than two years, he maintained a dubious claim of a perfect record of protection against a virus that has spread to almost every part of the world.
At a political bureau meeting of the ruling party on Sunday, Kim criticized the government and health officials for what he described as a flawed reaction to the pandemic, saying state medicines were not delivered on time to pharmacies because of their “irresponsible attitude to work” and lack. of the organization. This was reported by the North Korean central news agency.
The Politburo issued an immediate order to immediately release and quickly distribute state drug reserves and move pharmacies to a 24 -hour shift, but Kim said those measures have not been implemented properly. . Kim ordered his military medical units to take part in stabilizing the supply of medicines in Pyongyang, the KCNA said.
State media previously reported that more than 1.3 million workers – including public health officials, teachers and medical students – had been mobilized to look for people with fever or other symptoms to quarantine.
North Korea’s claim of a good record for maintaining the virus for two and a half years is questionable. But the closure of its very tight borders, large quarantines, and propaganda emphasizing checking the virus as a matter of “national existence” could have prevented a massive outbreak.
While North Korea could suffer heavy losses if it does not receive international shipments of medical supplies quickly, it is not immediately clear whether the North is allowing an epidemic in its willingness to receive aid from abroad.
Rival South Korea has offered to send vaccines and other supplies, but Seoul officials said the North did not make such a request. But some experts said Kim’s comments at another Politburo meeting last week, where he praised China’s reaction to the pandemic and called on his officials to learn from him, suggest it may be more willing to accept. North. the help of his main ally.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last week that Beijing was ready to offer assistance to North Korea, but he said he had no information on such a request.
While calling for stronger prevention measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, Kim also stressed that the country’s economic goals must be met, which is likely to mean that large groups will continue to gather in the areas of agriculture, industry and construction.
As he accelerates missile tests on the brink of insisting on the United States to make economic and security concessions, Kim is battling internal challenges at home as pandemic -related difficulties have led to more shock in decades of mismanagement and economic collapse. Sanctions against the North, pushing it into the most difficult period since he came to power in 2011.
Source: Huffpost
