North Korea hails recovery as WHO worries over missing data

18/5/2022 13:41

        North Korea said Wednesday more than a million people have already recovered from suspected COVID-19 just a week after disclosing an outbreak it appears to be trying to manage in isolation as global experts express deep concern about the public health threat.
        
        The country's anti-virus headquarters announced 232,880 new cases of fever and another six deaths in state media Wednesday. Those figures raise its totals to 62 deaths and more than 1.7 million fever cases since late April. It said at least 691,170 remain in quarantine.
        
        Outside experts believe most of the fevers are COVID-19 but North Korea lacks tests to confirm so many. The outbreak is almost certainly greater than the fever tally, since the virus can be carried and spread by people who don't develop fevers or other symptoms.
        
        It's also unclear how more than a million people recovered so quickly when limited medicine, medical equipment and health facilities exist to treat the country's impoverished, unvaccinated population of 26 million. Some experts say the North could be simply releasing people from quarantine after their fevers subside.