N.Korea's fever cases under 200,000

23/5/2022 6:08

        North Korea's daily fever cases
        stayed below 200,000 for a second day in a row, state media said
        on Monday, as Pyongyang remained silent on South Korean and U.S.
        offers to help fight its first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak.
        
        The COVID wave, declared on May 12, has fuelled concerns
        over a lack of vaccines, inadequate medical infrastructure and a
        potential food crisis in the country of 25 million.
        
        U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday that Washington
        had offered COVID-19 vaccines to China and North Korea, but "got
        no response."
        
        North Korea reported 167,650 new patients suffering from
        fever on Monday and one more death. More than 2.33 million of
        the 2.81 million cumulative cases reported since late April had
        recovered as of Sunday evening, the North's state news agency
        KCNA said. The official death toll stands at 68.
        
        While staying silent on the offer for help, North Korea has
        boasted of a "favorable turn" in the country's virus situation.
        
        "The crisis and responsibility awareness is further enhanced
        in every region, sector, workplace and post across the country
        to maintain the favorable turn in the epidemic prevention work
        and all inroads of the epidemic are checked through the strict
        execution of regional and unit lockdown and blockade measures,"
        the KCNA said.
        
        Such COVID-19 restrictions may be playing a role in North
        Korea's lack of response, a senior U.S. administration official
        said Sunday.
        
        Apparently deprived of testing supplies, North Korea has not
        confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the
        coronavirus. Instead, health authorities report the number with
        fever symptoms, making it difficult to assess the scale of the
        COVID wave, experts have said.
        
        Authorities have distributed food and medicine across the
        country, with military medics deployed to help distribute drugs
        and conduct exams.
        
        KCNA said pharmaceutical factories "are speeding up the
        production," but did not elaborate which medicines were being
        produced.