Over the weekend, when he saw the latest figures, he realized how dark the outlook had become. There are new cases of the illness every 2 days in the last significant population in the world, 25 million people, that have no immunity to the disease.
Park is a global health specialist at Harvard Medical School.
If North Korea is willing to open its doors, aid agencies are ready for a strong response. Humanitarian experts who have worked in North Korea say that the government has ignored past offers of vaccines. They believe the crisis is causing a great upheaval in North Korea and that they will request assistance in the coming days. They are working on a list of what will be needed to fight the outbreak, as well as how to get those items into North Korea.
North Korea closed itself off from the world in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Despite occasional reports of possible outbreaks, that strategy largely succeeded for 2 years. The country had just 66,000 people tested for COVID-19 and zero cases until last month.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, new cases of presumptive COVID-19 have increased from 18,000 on May 12 to According to Park, 5% of the population in North Korea have symptoms. The death toll from the current case number could reach 12,000 if a 1% mortality rate is used.
North Korean officials have ordered a nationwide lock-down that restricts people to their homes and places of business. Communication between international agencies and local staff has been severed. There is no doubt that the country is unprepared for COVID-19. The health care system ranked 192nd in the world before the Pandemic and it has struggled to fight infectious diseases such as Tuberculosis and maintain food security because of the severe weather this spring.
Paxlovid is a potential lifesaver if North Korea embraces outside assistance. The number of patients who get seriously ill or die would be reduced by the use of the antiviral. Health workers will have to respond fast to new cases if it is not taken within 5 days. Rapid diagnostic tests and food to boost nutrition are high priorities according to Park.
North Korea will have to accept it.
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