By: Natasha Archary
Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un has confirmed the first six Covid-19 related deaths in the East Asian country.
This after the largely unvaccinated state reported an epidemic fever outbreak affecting more than 350 000 people.
From late April, a high fever outbreak, the cause of which could not be identified spread throughout North Korea.
Over a short period, more than half of those reporting a fever had recovered completely.
Kim Jong Un has ordered cities across the country to lockdown after North Korea reported its first COVID-19 case on Thursday morning.https://t.co/yeYSCR0tTK
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) May 12, 2022
However, on Thursday, 12 May, Kim Jong Un told media that at least 6 people had died from BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.
Subsequently, the leader of North Korea ordered that the country be locked down as the virus is said to be spreading.
Many health experts believe Covid-19 was present in North Korea for some time but say that Kim Jong Un was just in denial until the first death.
All cities in North Korea will now be locked down and those people who are showing Covid-symptoms will be required to quarantine.
The first death came in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang and there are concerns that the country’s 25 million population is vulnerable to the deadly virus.
Kim Jong Un rejected the AstraZeneca, and Chinese-made vaccines last year and said North Korea was in control of the Covid-19 virus because it had shut down borders from January 2020.
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