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North Korea reports 1st COVID-19 death, over 180,000 quarantined
Since late April, six people with symptoms of fever had died and one had tested positive for the highly contagious Omicron BA.2 subvariant of the coronavirus, the official Korean Central News Agency said, adding a fever of unidentified origin has "explosively spread nationwide."
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The North Korean flag flies above the North Korean embassy in Beijing on March 9, 2018. US President Donald Trump agreed to a historic first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a stunning development in America's high-stakes nuclear standoff with North Korea. (AFP/Greg Baker)
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t least one person has died due to the novel coronavirus and around 187,800 people are being quarantined in North Korea, state-run media reported Friday.
Since late April, six people with symptoms of fever had died and one had tested positive for the highly contagious Omicron BA.2 subvariant of the coronavirus, the official Korean Central News Agency said, adding a fever of unidentified origin has "explosively spread nationwide."
Around 18,000 people had caught the fever on Thursday, bringing the cumulative total to more than 350,000 in the country of 25 million, KCNA reported, adding at least 162,200 had recovered completely.
North Korea on Thursday reported its first coronavirus case since the pandemic began, prompting leader Kim Jong Un to instruct officials to thoroughly block all cities and counties across the nation and boost measures to curb the outbreak.
Kim has pointed out that the "simultaneous spread of fever" shows that "there is a vulnerable point in the epidemic prevention system we have already established," according to the news agency.
North Korea has blocked its borders with China and Russia since early 2020 to prevent the intrusion of the coronavirus, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Freight train operations between North Korea and China, meanwhile, resumed in January after a plunge in bilateral trade apparently weighed on North Korea's economy, making it more difficult for its people to receive adequate food and daily necessities.
China, however, said late last month that it had suspended freight train operations with North Korea again amid the spread of the virus in the Chinese border city of Dandong.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, several massive public events were held in North Korea in April on various anniversaries, including a vast military parade and gatherings in which most of the participants did not wear protective face masks.
North Korea is believed to be vulnerable to infectious diseases due largely to chronic shortages of food and medical supplies as a result of international economic sanctions aimed at thwarting Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions.
Foreigners were barred from entering North Korea during the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014.
