North Korea has deployed the military to help deal with an ‘explosive’ outbreak of suspected Covid-19 which has killed dozens and seen more than a million fall ill in a matter of days.
Leader Kim Jong-un acknowledged last week that the virus, most likely driven by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant, is causing ‘great upheaval’ in the country.
Some 56 people have died amid more than 1.4million ‘fever cases’ since it was announced an unspecified number of people had tested positive for coronavirus in Pyongyang last week.
And it is feared the true numbers could be even worse as health authorities underreport deaths and cases in a bid to shield Kim’s leadership from dissent.
Experts have warned that the combination of the highly-infectious strain and an under-resourced health system – with no vaccine programme and few tests – could be catastrophic.
Kim told an emergency meeting of the country’s politburo that drugs procured by the state were not reaching people quickly or accurately before deploying the ‘powerful forces’ of the army’s medical corps to ‘stabilise the supply of medicines in Pyongyang City’.
He later visited a pharmacy near the capital’s Taedong River, where he said they lacked suitable storage, proper clothing and hygiene standards to perform properly.
State media has encouraged people to use painkillers and bizarre home remedies to ease symptoms in the absence of effective treatments.
While previously playing down vaccines as ‘no panacea’, media have also recommended gargling salt water, or drinking lonicera japonica tea or willow leaf tea three times a day.
‘Traditional treatments are the best,’ one woman told state broadcasters as her husband described having their children gargle with salted water every morning and night.
An elderly Pyongyang resident said she had been helped by ginger tea and ventilating her room.
‘I was first scared by Covid, but after following the doctors’ advice and getting the proper treatments, it turned out not a big deal,’ she was quoted as saying in a televised interview.
The World Health Organisation has shipped some health kits and other supplies to North Korea, but has not said what drugs they contain.
Neighbours China and South Korea have offered to send aid if Pyongyang requests it.
North Korea’s state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters reported 269,510 more people with fever, bringing the total to 1.48 million, the country’s state news agency KCNA said.
The death toll grew by six to 56 as of Monday evening. It did not say how many people had tested positive.
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