Hit by Thousands of Fever Cases, North Korea’s Silence Offers Joe Biden Help

 

North Korea recorded hundreds of thousands of cases of fever for the second day in a row. Local state media reported there were at least less than 200,000 cases of fever in the country ruled by Kim Jong Un.

 

The increase in fever cases took place when North Korea declared a wave of Covid-19 on May 12, 2022. The pandemic crisis in the country also sparked concerns regarding medical readiness.

 

North Korea fears a shortage of vaccines, inadequate medical infrastructure, and a potential food crisis in the nation of 25 million. Moreover, the country also remains silent when it receives offers of assistance from other countries.

 

So far, Pyongyang has remained silent on offers by South Korea and the United States to help fight the first confirmed coronavirus outbreak.

 

US President Joe Biden said Washington had offered a COVID-19 vaccine to China and North Korea but had “no response.”

 

For information, North Korea reported 167,650 new patients with 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 (May 22) evening, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said. The official death toll stands at 68 lrang.

 

While remaining silent in response to offers of aid, North Korea has acknowledged that the virus situation in the country is undergoing “favorable changes”.

 

“Awareness of the crisis and responsibility is further raised in every region, sector, workplace, and post across the country to maintain those favorable changes in epidemic prevention efforts, and all virus entry is checked through strict implementation of regional and local unit lockdowns and blockades.”, said KCNA.

 

Such Covid-19 restrictions may play a role in North Korea’s lack of response, a senior US administration official said Sunday.

 

It seems that with a shortage of testing kits, North Korea has yet to confirm the total number of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

 

In contrast, health authorities reported a number with feverish symptoms, making it difficult to judge the scale of the COVID wave, experts said.

 

Authorities have been distributing food and medicine across the country, deploying military medics to help distribute medicine and carry out checks.

 

KCNA said pharmaceutical factories were “spurring on production,” but did not specify the types of drugs being produced.