KCTV, North Korea's state television, reported today that another 219.030 people had "fever" - more than 200.000, for the fifth day in a row - while a patient succumbed as the isolated country struggled to control the first wave of the new pandemic. coronavirus that has been officially affecting her since last week, reports the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
As Pyongyang has not vaccinated its population for COVID-19, has no drugs designed to treat the infection, its health system is considered inadequate, it has not even responded to offers of help from abroad and keeps borders closed, concerns are being raised about a potential food crisis and the risk of deadly new ones variants of the virus, if the spread continues unchecked in the state of 25 million people.
In all, the pandemic wave toll has officially reached 66 dead out of a total of 2.460.640 people with "fever". It is not clear whether or how many of the patients have been confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, or whether the deaths were actually due to complications COVID-19, as the country does not have the means to conduct mass examinations. Analysts do not rule out the possibility that the numbers announced are much lower than the real ones.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ-Reuters