North Korea on Saturday reported 21 new deaths and over 174,000 more people with fever symptoms as the country scrambles to slow the spread of COVID-19 across its unvaccinated population.
North Korea said 243,630 people had recovered and 280,810 remained in quarantine. State media didn't specify how many of the fever cases and deaths were confirmed as COVID-19 infections.
Kim expressed optimism that the country could bring the outbreak under control, saying most transmissions are occurring within communities that are isolated from one another and not spreading from region to region. The country since Thursday has imposed stronger preventive measures aimed at restricting the movement of people and supplies between cities and counties, but state media's descriptions of the steps indicate people aren't being confined to their homes.
A passerby walks past a screen displaying an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wearing a face mask on a TV news program in Tokyo, Friday, May 13, 2022.Lacking vaccines, antiviral pills, intensive care units and other major health tools to fight the virus, North Korea's pandemic response will be mostly about isolating people with symptoms at designated shelters, experts say.
It's unusual for isolated North Korea to admit to an outbreak of any infectious disease, let alone one as menacing as COVID-19, as it's intensely proud and sensitive to outside perception about its self-described"socialist utopia." But experts are mixed on whether the North's announcement of the outbreak communicates a willingness to receive outside help.
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