North Korea said it discovered roughly 220,000 more people with feverish symptoms on Saturday, even as leader Kim Jong Un claimed progress in curbing the spread of COVID-19 among the country's unvaccinated population and hinted at loosening virus restrictions to help the country's ailing economy.
Experts think North Korea is almost definitely exaggerating the exact scope of the virus outbreak, including a surprisingly low death toll, in order to soften the political blow to Kim as he navigates the most difficult period of his decade in power.
Around 219,030 North Koreans with fevers were identified in the 24 hours through 6 p.m. Friday, the fifth straight daily increase of around 200,000, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency, which attributed the information to the government’s anti-virus headquarters.
Experts think North Korea is almost definitely exaggerating the exact scope of the virus outbreak, including a surprisingly low death toll, in order to soften the political blow to Kim as he navigates the most difficult period of his decade in power.
Despite a lack of public health resources, the North has organised over a million health professionals to locate persons with fevers and place them in quarantine facilities.
Kim also imposed stringent travel restrictions between cities and towns and recruited hundreds of troops to assist with the delivery of medicine to pharmacies in Pyongyang, the country's capital and epicentre of the outbreak.
Kim stated during a ruling party Politburo meeting on Saturday that the Korea was beginning to manage the epidemic and asked for increased vigilance to continue the "positive trend" in the anti-virus effort, according to KCNA.