North Korea on brink of Covid-19 catastrophe, say experts

The number of people reported to have fallen ill in North Korea rose to almost 1.5 million, as experts warned that the country was on the verge of a Covid-19 catastrophe unless swift action was taken to provide vaccines and drug treatments.

The isolated country reported another big rise in new cases of what it continues to refer to as "fever" on Tuesday, days after it admitted it had identified Covid-19 infections for the first time since the start of the global Pandemic.

There were more than two hundred thousand additional cases and six more deaths. More than 650,000 people were in a state of quark after the first case was reported last week, according to official figures. The lack of tests and resources to treat the sick makes the outbreak more than the official tally.

A significant Covid-19 outbreak could cause a humanitarian crisis in North Korea, where the economy has been battered by the closing of its border with China and years of international sanctions.

The regime doesn't have access to the drugs that have been used in other countries to treat Covid-19, and it's not thought that any of its population has beenvaccinated. The population of 26 million is more susceptible to serious illness due to the lack of intensive-care resources and widespread malnourishment.

Owen Miller is a lecturer in Korean studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Silence has been met with offers of outside help. There is concern that the leader of the country may be willing to accept a lot of cases and deaths in order to keep his country out of international scrutiny.

Since it reported its first cases last week, North Korea's propaganda machine has portrayed the virus as an enemy that can be defeated through lockdowns and greater vigilance. The KCNA news agency has reported the delivery of drugs and public health campaigns.

Testing levels are far below what is needed to form an accurate picture of the outbreak and to quickly identify and isolate patients. Observers speculated that authorities were under reporting cases to make Kim less under pressure.

According to the World Health Organization, North Korea has only tested 64,200 people since the start of the Pandemic.

We were talking about a small fatality rate for Omicron in South Korea, but that is going to be much higher in North Korea, possibly even reaching 1%.

Kim is having to balance public health measures with his efforts to revive the economy.

There are no restrictions on going outside, according to a member of the ruling party. The official told the website that they had been ordered to double mask.

People are going to their places of work. The authorities do not want work to be disrupted. The official said people were more concerned about being locked down and prevented from working than catching Covid-19.

After two years of denying it had a single case of the virus, North Korea admitted that it was battling it. South Korea has yet to receive a response to its offer of vaccines, drugs and medical staff, while it has already refused millions of vaccine doses via the UN-backed Covax scheme.

When there were multiple different aid agencies operating in the country in the 1990s, the leadership felt that they were being humiliated and they will still be very wary of accepting major international aid.

The Omicron variant has caused fewer deaths and serious cases in countries with high vaccination rates and previous exposure to Covid-19.

Kim Sin-gon, a professor at the Korea University College of Medicine, said that the pattern is unlikely to be repeated in North Korea.

Without urgent international help, Kim said, North Korea may end up with the worst death and infections in the world for its population size.

Wires in South Korea reported.