Covid-19
North Korea wants to have eradicated coronavirus
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un greets health officials and scientists during a photo
© -/KCNA/KNS/dpa
Little is known about the situation of the pandemic in the totalitarian state. Experts assume that there is a lack of test capacities. Pyongyang has a different explanation for the low corona numbers.
Three months after the first confirmation of a corona outbreak in the country, North Korea says it has defeated the virus. Ruler Kim Jong Un solemnly declared victory in the fight to eradicate the “new corona virus”, the state-controlled media reported on Thursday.
Kim made the statement Wednesday in Pyongyang at a national meeting on anti-epidemic measures. The campaign against the virus is now over, but North Korea must remain vigilant and effectively monitor the border areas, he was quoted as saying.
For almost two weeks, the country has not reported any new cases of illness or suspected cases related to the outbreak. It was still unclear how many corona infections there actually were. The strictly isolated country had officially confirmed infections with the pathogen for the first time in mid-May and spoke of an epidemic emergency. However, since then it has spoken of “fever cases”. According to its own information, almost 4.8 million such cases have been recorded since the end of April. There were 74 fatalities.
Experts assume that North Korea does not have sufficient test capacities. According to their own statements, however, the authorities immediately sent “mobile anti-epidemic” teams to those regions where fever cases had occurred in order to carry out PCR tests and antibody tests to determine the cause of the symptom.