WHO (World Health Organization) fears an explosion of covid-19 cases in North Korea and warns that there is a risk of a high death toll with an unvaccinated population.
Since last Thursday, when the first official case of covid-19 was announced by the government of one of the world’s most closed countries, 1.5 million people have been infected with 56 deaths. 663,000 people were quarantined.
But WHO fears the crisis could be significant, including the production of new mutations of the virus, as the North Korean regime refuses to vaccinate its population and chooses to isolate the country from the world.
“We are deeply concerned,” WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday. The agency urged the authoritarian regime, known for its complete lack of transparency, to regularly report on the progress of the disease.
Mike Ryan, WHO director of operations, said it was “concerning” that countries chose not to use existing tools that could stop the pandemic. But he insisted that the international organization cannot intervene in a sovereign country if it does not want cooperation.
Ryan’s hope is that other countries in the region can “work” to persuade Pyongyang to change its strategy and launch a comprehensive vaccination program. The message was, in essence, directed at China, one of the few governments to have influence over the North Korean regime.
The denialism that marked the pandemic in some parts of the world has been the target of harsh criticism from international experts. But now the fear is that these places are becoming incubators for new mutations because of the ease of transmission. Another focus of concern is Eritrea, which has not exceeded its population.
“It’s not true that the Omicron variant is mild. It’s a deadly narrative,” said WHO technical director Maria van Kerkhove.
According to the agency, the number of covid-19 cases has increased in four of the six regions of the world in the past week. “It’s difficult to know the current evolution of the virus, as testing and sequencing have not been done,” added Tedros.
source: Noticias
