Seoul: North Korea said on Saturday that about 220,000 more people had symptoms of fever. At the same time, its leader Kim Jong Un has claimed progress in slowing the spread of Covid-19. The country’s 2.6 crore population has not taken the dose of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine. The spread of the coronavirus has raised concerns about the dire situation in a poor and isolated country with the world’s worst healthcare system. Experts say that North Korea is underestimating the true scale of the spread of infection.
According to North Korea’s Central News Agency, symptoms of fever were found in about 2,19,030 people in North Korea within 24 hours till 6 pm on Friday. This is an increase of about 2,00,000 cases in fever patients for the fifth consecutive day.
North Korea said that more than 2.4 million people have fallen ill and 66 have died due to the rapidly spreading unknown fever since the end of April. Kim also imposed strict restrictions on travel between cities and deployed thousands of troops to help deliver medicines to drug stores in the capital Pyongyang. The capital Pyongyang is the epicenter of this infection.
Kim told a meeting of the ruling party’s Politburo on Saturday that the spread of infection in the country was under control. He also indicated the relaxation of pandemic restrictions to ease economic troubles. Video released by state media also showed Kim crying during the funeral of top North Korean military official Hyun Chol Hee on Saturday. It is believed that Chol Hei was instrumental in grooming his son Kim as the future leader during the reign of Kim Jong II.
