North Korea Announces First Death Due To COVID-19: 350,000 People Sick Fever, 187,800 People Treated In Isolation Rooms

Illustration of a North Korean woman wearing a mask. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - At least one person confirmed to have COVID-19 has died in North Korea, with hundreds of thousands having shown symptoms of a fever, state media said on Friday.

Some 187,800 people are being treated in isolation after a fever of unknown origin has spread explosively across the country since late April, the official KCNA news agency said.

About 350,000 people have shown signs of the fever, including 18,000 who only reported the symptoms on Thursday, KCNA said. While around 162,200 have been treated, it did not specify how many have tested positive for COVID-19.

At least six people who showed symptoms of fever died, with one of the cases confirmed to have contracted the Omicron virus variant, KCNA said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited an anti-virus command center on Thursday to examine the situation and response after declaring the most severe state of emergency, ordering a nationwide lockdown on Thursday.

North Korea says the outbreak began in the capital Pyongyang in April. State media did not specify the cause of the outbreak, but the city hosted several large public events on April 15 and 25, including a military parade and large gatherings where most people were not wearing masks.

Leader Kim "criticized that the simultaneous spread of fever with the capital area as the center shows that there are vulnerable points in the epidemic prevention system that we have created," KCNA said.

Furthermore, Leader Kim said actively isolating and treating people with fevers was a top priority, while calling for scientific treatment methods and tactics "at lightning speed" and strengthening measures to supply medicine.

In another dispatch, KCNA said health authorities were trying to regulate the testing and treatment system and improve disinfection work.

The rapid spread of the virus highlights the potential for a major crisis in a country that lacks medical resources, has refused international help with vaccinations and has closed its borders.

It is known that North Korea has refused vaccine supplies from global sharing programs COVAX and China, possibly putting the majority of people in its relatively young society at higher risk of infection.