North Korea reports 15 more suspected Covid-19 deaths

North Korea has confirmed 15 more deaths and hundreds of thousands of additional patients with fevers as it mobilises more than a million health and other workers to try to suppress the countrys first Covid19 outbreak state media reported SundayAfter maintaining a widely disputed claim that its been coronavirusfree for more than two years North Korea announced Thursday that it had found its first Covid19 patients since the pandemic beganIt said a fever has spread across the country explosively since late April but hasnt disclosed exactly how many Covid19 cases were found Some experts say North Korea lacks the diagnostic kits needed to test a large number of suspected Covid19 patientsThe additional deaths reported Sunday took the countrys reported feverrelated fatalities to 42 The official Korean Central News Agency also reported that another 296180 people with fevers had been tallied taking the reported total to 820620The outbreak has triggered concern about a humanitarian crisis in North Korea because most of the countrys 26 million people are believed to be unvaccinated against the coronavirus and its public health care system has been in shambles for decades Some experts say North Korea might suffer huge fatalities if it doesnt immediately receive outside shipments of vaccines medicines and other medical suppliesWithout Covid19 test kits North Korea is resorting to body temperature checks to guess at infections But with such a very inferior and inaccurate method of examination its impossible to find asymptomatic virus carriers and control viral surges said analyst Cheong SeongChang at South Koreas Sejong InstituteAs North Koreas suspected Covid19 infections are explosively increasing its death toll is expected to continue to rise Cheong addedSince Thursday North Korea has imposed a nationwide lockdown to fight the virus That could further strain the countrys fragile economy which has suffered in recent years due to sharply reduced external trade caused by pandemicrelated border shutdowns punishing UN economic sanctions over its nuclear programme and its own mismanagement observers sayDuring a meeting on the outbreak Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the outbreak as a historically great upheaval and called for unity between the government and people to stabilise the outbreak as quickly as possibleKCNA said Sunday that more than 13 million people have been engaged in works to examine and treat sick people and raise public awareness of hygiene It said everyone with fevers and others with abnormal symptoms was being put in quarantine and treated KCNA said the elevated pandemic response includes the establishment of more quarantine facilities the urgent transportation of medical supplies to hospitals and increased disinfection effortsAll provinces cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units production units and residential units closed from each other since the morning of May 12 KCNA said and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conductedOf those with symptoms 496030 have recovered while as of Saturday 324550 were still receiving treatment KCNA reported citing the countrys emergency epidemic prevention centreState media reports said Kim and other senior North Korean officials are donating their private reserve medicines to support the countrys antipandemic fightDuring Saturdays meeting 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 regionDespite the outbreak Kim has ordered officials to go ahead with planned economic construction and other state projects a suggestion that authorities arent requiring people to confine themselves at homeHours after it admitted its virus outbreak Thursday North Korea fired ballistic missiles toward the sea in a continuation of its recent streak of weapons testsKCNA said that Kim accompanied by top deputies visited a mourning station Saturday set up for senior official Yang Hyong Sop who died a day earlier to express his condolences and meet bereaved relatives A separate KCNA dispatch said Sunday that officials and labourers in the northeast were launching initiatives to prevent an expected spring drought from damaging crop yields and qualitySouth Korea and China have offered to send vaccines medical supplies and other aid shipments to North Korea but Pyongyang hasnt publicly responded to the overtures North Korea previously rebuffed millions of doses of vaccines offered by the UNbacked COVAX distribution programme amid speculation that it worried about possible side effects of vaccines or international monitoring requirements attached to those shotsWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday the United States supported international aid efforts but doesnt plan to share its vaccine supplies with the North The North Korean virus outbreak could still be a major topic of discussion when President Joe Biden visits Seoul later this week for a summit with newly inaugurated South Korean President Yoon Suk YeolSouth Koreas former spy chief Park Jiewon wrote Friday on Facebook that he had proposed in May 2021 as the thendirector of the National Intelligence Service that Washington send 60 million doses of vaccines to North Korea as humanitarian aid via COVAX He said there were later talks in the UN and the Vatican about shipping 60 million doses to North Korea as well but such aid was never realised as no formal offers were made to North KoreaPark said he hopes North Korea would accept Yoons aid offers quickly though he doubts whether the North would do soThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove 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