The first Covid-19 death was confirmed by North Korea on Friday and state media said hundreds of thousands of people are sick with a rapidly spreadingfever.
The outbreak was said to be a crisis by Kim Jong Un.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, six people have died and 350,000 have been treated for a disease that has spread.
State media confirmed that one of the six people who died had tested positive for the omicron BA.2 coronaviruses variant, though it is not clear how many of the total illnesses were due to Covid-19.
More than 162,000 people have recovered from the 350,000 who developed the disease since late April, and nearly 188,000 are being isolated and treated.
The leader of North Korea criticized officials for failing to prevent a vulnerable point in the epidemic prevention system.
Kim, who was pictured wearing a face mask for the first time in public on Thursday, reportedly described the escalating situation in North Korea as an immediate public health crisis. Most signs show that an outbreak could be devastating for the country. North Korea is one of only two countries that hasn't launched a vaccine program and its healthcare infrastructure is severely limited. Experts have questioned whether the success of keeping the virus out of the country was due to the rejection of vaccines and humanitarian assistance.
The extent of the outbreak. North Korea does not have the testing capacity to effectively monitor an outbreak of Covid-19. The description of patients with a high temperature, one of the most common symptoms of a Covid infection, is a rough proxy for coronaviruses. It is an imperfect measure and will exclude people with infections.
The spread was rapid. Omicron BA.2 is infectious. The CDC says it could be one of the most contagious diseases we know of, and that it can affect up to 90% of people if they aren't immune. The entire population of North Korea have no exposure to Covid and are vulnerable to infections if the country doesn't launch a vaccine program.
18,000. That's how many new cases of the disease were reported in North Korea on Thursday.
The first Covid-19 outbreak has been reported by North Korea.
Live updates on the coronaviruses.
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