WHO worries that Covid-19 in North Korea “is getting worse”

The WHO’s announcement contrasts with information from Pyongyang that the epidemic situation is improving.

After announcing the first cases of Covid-19 on May 12, and experiencing a period of “fever” daily increasing sharply, peaking at 390.00 cases on May 15, last week, North Korea confirmed that the Covid-19 outbreak was under control. For several days now, North Korean state media has continuously published information showing that the number of “fever cases” has decreased sharply day by day.

But the director of WHO’s emergencies programs Michael Ryan doubts that.

Employees of the Pyongyang Dental Hygiene Products Factory disinfect the dining room floor as the state steps up measures to prevent the spread of disease in Pyongyang. Photo: AP

At a press conference on June 1, Mr. Ryan called on the North Korean authorities to provide more information. Associated AP “We had a hard time accessing the raw data and the actual situation in North Korea,” Ryan said.

He said the WHO did not receive any interesting information about the outbreak in North Korea, unlike in typical outbreaks where countries can share more “sensitive” data so that the WHO can public health risk assessment.

With Pyongyang providing very limited information, Ryan told reporters that “the WHO is not currently in a position to provide a full risk assessment of the situation on the ground”. According to him, “it is very difficult to give a proper analysis to the world when we do not have access to the necessary data”.

“We think the situation is getting worse, not better,” Ryan said. Mr. Ryan emphasized the importance of controlling the outbreak in this struggling country.

The director of WHO’s emergency programs added: “We have asked for help many times. We have offered to provide a vaccine to North Korea three times (but failed). We continue to ask for help. recommendation”.

WHO has previously voiced concerns about the impact of Covid-19 on North Korea because of its worrisome health system and failure to carry out a vaccination campaign with a population of 25 million.

An employee of a grocery store on Mirae Investors Street brings cabbage to provide people at home on May 16, as the state steps up measures to prevent the spread of the disease in Pyongyang. Photo: AP

Meanwhile, Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO on Covid-19, said that North Korea has so far announced about 3.7 million suspected cases of Covid-19 (or “fever case” as the country officially calls it). this).

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 1 recorded about 96,000 new “fever” cases in 24 hours, out of a total of 3.8 million cases since the end of April. No new deaths, as of now the official total number of deaths. was 69 and the mortality rate remained at 0.002%.

Follow Yonhap, this is the third consecutive daily tally of less than 100,000 “fever cases”. “Many recoveries have been reported, but we have received very limited information from North Korea,” Van Kerkhove said.

WHO is working with China and South Korea in an effort to help North Korea. The director of WHO’s emergency programs praised the “very positive attitude in the effort to tackle this common problem”.