North Korea on Tuesday, 17 May, reported that over 1.4 million people had developed COVID-like symptoms, reflective of an "explosive COVID-19 outbreak," even as the country confirmed its first set of cases only last week.
The country reported six new COVID-19 deaths, taking the total death toll to 56 as of Monday evening, Reuters reported.
State media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reportedly indicated on Tuesday that the nation's army medical corps was called upon for the distribution of medical supplies.
While there is no confirmation of how many people have tested positive for the virus in North Korea till now, Pyongyang had informed that it was moving into a "maximum emergency epidemic prevention system."
Kim Censures Govt Officials for Faulty Pandemic Response
Speaking at a party meeting on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un lambasted government health officials for "irresponsible work attitude," asserting that their shortfalls in organizing were leading to depleting medical supplies, AP reported North Korea's state media as quoting.
Consequently, the ruling party put out an emergency order directing pharmacies to run overtime and state medical reserves to begin distributing supplies.
The North Korean leader has since appeared in public wearing a surgical mask, suggesting his acknowledgment of the health emergency.
Omicron Variant Detected in Pyongyang
Last week, the state media reported that a sub-variant of the Omicron virus, known as BA.2, had been detected in the capital, Pyongyang.
"There has been the biggest emergency incident in the country, with a hole in our emergency quarantine front, that has been kept safely over the past two years and three months since February 2020,” the official KCNA news agency had said.
Meanwhile, the news agency added that all business activities would be organised in a way that each work unit is "isolated" to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
With the 25-million-strong North Korean population not vaccinated at all, a strict national lockdown has been initiated.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently said that the country was one of only two countries in the world that have not vaccinated their people. The other one is Eritrea.
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