JAKARTA - North Korea announced 21 deaths from the COVID-19 fever on Saturday, May 14. And more than half a million people are thought to have contracted the virus.
This official announcement was made just two days after confirming the first COVID-19 death case.
Despite activating a "maximum emergency quarantine system" to slow the spread of the disease through the unvaccinated population, North Korea is now reporting tens of thousands of new cases every day.
On Friday alone, more than 174,440 people had a fever. But 81,430 have fully recovered and 21 died in the country, the official Korea Central News Agency reported as quoted by Channel News Asia.
North Korea confirmed on Thursday that a highly contagious variant of the Omicron had been detected in the capital Pyongyang, with leader Kim Jong Un ordering a nationwide lockdown.
North Korea only said that one of the first six deaths announced on Friday had tested positive for COVID-19.
"It is no exaggeration to think of all these 'fever' cases as COVID-19, given North Korea's lack of testing capacity", said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute.
"The actual number of COVID-19 cases could be higher than the fever rate because many cases are asymptomatic", he said, adding that the rate of infection was growing "very fast".
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 the global sharing program COVAX and China, possibly putting the vast majority of people in its relatively young society at higher risk of infection.
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