North Korea now also reports first corona death and more than 187,000 sick Abroad

According to the news agency, some 187,800 people “with a fever of which the cause could not be determined” are being treated in isolation. This mysterious fever has been circulating in the country since the end of April and has already infected some 350,000 people. About half of them have now been cured, according to KCNA. It is not known whether people also tested positive for corona.

North Korea has said for two years that corona was not in the country, something that is widely doubted. However, on Thursday it was officially announced that someone in the capital Pyongyang had the highly contagious omikron subvariant BA.2. had been detected. Immediately afterwards, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced a national lockdown.

North Korea has always refused to accept corona vaccines from abroad. In 2020, the country announced it would develop its own vaccine, but nothing has been heard of it since. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday it would be in contact with the government of the penniless, internationally isolated country and help set up an action plan. Neighboring South Korea also said it was willing to help.

It is doubted by observers that no one in North Korea has contracted the corona virus in the past two years. For example, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fired several senior officials a year ago for allegedly failing to implement government policy against corona. They had thus caused ‘a major crisis’, according to the leader, who did not go into details.

North Korea also shares a nearly 1,000-mile border with China, which is far from well-guarded. The number of infections has risen sharply in recent weeks in the Chinese border city of Dandong.