North Korea said it recorded a “continuous” downward trend in the first confirmed Covid-19 outbreak, reporting less than 200,000 new patients with fever symptoms for the third day in a row on Tuesday (local time).
The Covid wave, announced on May 12, has fueled concerns about a lack of vaccines, inadequate medical infrastructure and a potential food crisis in the country of 25 million.
As of Monday night, at least 134,510 people had symptoms of fever, bringing the total number of cases since the end of April to 2.95 million, the official KCNA news agency reported. The death toll reached 68.
KCNA said the country had recorded “successes” in the fight against the Covid epidemic.
“A few days after the activation of the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system, morbidity and mortality rates across the country have decreased significantly and the number of people recovering has increased, resulting in effective containment and containment of the spread of the pandemic disease and maintaining a clear stable situation,” said KCNA.
North Korea said it was expanding production of essential drugs, but did not detail exactly which strains were produced.
North Korea, which apparently lacks testing materials, has not confirmed the total number of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Instead, experts say health officials are reporting the number of fever symptoms, making it difficult to assess the scale of the Covid wave.
South Korea and the United States offered North Korea assistance in combating the epidemic, including vaccines, but Pyongyang did not respond to the offer.
source: Noticias
