North Korea reports new spike in possible COVID-19 cases

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea reported 232,880 new cases of fever and six other deaths on Wednesday, with President Kim Jong Un accusing officials of “incompetence” and “pancism” in their handling of the growing coronavirus outbreak. COVID-19 wreaking havoc on a population that is largely unvaccinated.

The state command to combat the virus reported that 62 people have died and more than 1.7 million have fallen ill amid a rapid spread of fever since late April. He added that more than a million have recovered and that at least 691,170 remain in quarantine.

Outside experts say most of the infections would be from COVID-19, although North Korea has only been able to confirm a small number of coronavirus cases since it acknowledged an outbreak of the omicron variant last week, possibly due to its poor ability to perform sufficient diagnostic tests.

Failure to control the outbreak could have serious consequences in North Korea, given its deteriorating health system and its refusal to accept vaccines offered from abroad, something that has left its 26 million inhabitants without being inoculated.

Undoubtedly, the balance of the outbreak is much higher than the total number of fever cases reported, considering the lack of diagnostic tests and resources to monitor the sick. There is also the suspicion that North Korea is reporting a lower number of deaths to mitigate the impact on Kim, who is going through the most difficult moment of his 10 years in power. The pandemic has also punished an economy already deteriorated by mismanagement and international sanctions imposed against it due to the development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

During a meeting of the ruling party’s Politburo, Kim on Tuesday criticized officials for their response to the pandemic, which he said highlights that “responsible cadres of party and state organs are not properly fulfilling their tasks in the situation.” of emerging prophylaxis due to lack of experiences,” and attributed the vulnerability to his “passivity, laxity, and inaction,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.

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