Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters). -There has been at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 in North Korea, and many thousands more have displayed fever symptoms. This is a warning sign of what could be a serious pandemic.

This data is an unusual admission that there was an “explosive” epidemic in a country which had not previously reported any confirmed cases. It could spell a serious public health crisis, economic and political crisis, as well as a new era for the nation.

Experts believe that the limited capabilities of North Korea in testing could mean only a fraction of the cases and may lead to thousands in deaths.

A fever from an unknown origin is spreading nationwide and approximately 187,800 are currently being treated in isolation, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Approximately 350,000 people are now showing symptoms of the fever. 18,000 new cases were reported on Thursday by KCNA. It did not say how many people had been positive for COVID-19, although 162,200 were treated.

At most six individuals who had fever symptoms died. One of them was confirmed to have the Omicron strain of the virus.

Kee Park of Harvard Medical School has worked with North Korea’s health care project teams. He said that North Korea has tested about 1,400 people every week. That is not enough to test 350,000 North Koreans.

He said that the more alarming aspect of this outbreak is its sheer volume. North Korea is likely to suffer 3,500 deaths due to this epidemic if we assume a conservative death rate of 1 percent.

‘GRAVEST EMERGENCY’

The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, visited the antivirus command center on Thursday to review the situation.

North Korea claimed that the outbreak occurred in Pyongyang, the capital city. The outbreak was not reported by the state media, however the capital hosted large public gatherings on April 15, 25 and 25 where the majority of people didn’t wear masks.

Kim was present at several events. He “criticised how the simultaneous spreading of fever with capital area being a centre shows there is a vulnerable part in the epidemic control system we have already established,” KCNA reported.

Kim stressed that treating patients with fevers should be a primary priority. Kim also called for more scientific methods to treat the condition and “at a lightning pace” along with bolstering supplies of medication.

KCNA also stated that health officials were working to organize testing and treatment systems, and bolster the work of disinfection.

Rapid spread of the virus highlights potential crisis for countries that are lacking medical resources and refuse international vaccinations.

Analysts say the potential outbreak may worsen an already difficult year for the country, given that the government is locked down and unable to fight drought or mobilise labour force.

Called for Aid

North Korea claimed last year that it has developed its own Polymerase Chain Reaction equipment (PCR) to perform COVID testing. It declined to provide vaccines from China and the COVAX global share programme, leaving the majority of the population in an extremely young country at greater risk.

Although North Korea has not yet made any public calls for assistance in combating the epidemic, some observers believed that this was an indication that North Korea would accept other forms of aid or vaccines.

Kwon Youngse is South Korea’s nominee for unification minister. He was responsible for inter-Korean relations.

Unification Ministry spokesperson said that Friday’s announcement by the ministry of unification stated that 95.4 billion won (or $74.1 million) had been taken from an interkorean cooperation fund and was intended to promote exchanges within the medical, health, and other areas.

According to a spokesperson from the U.S. State Department, while they do not plan to send North Korean vaccines, they support international aid efforts for vulnerable persons and have urged Pyongyang that it does so. [nW1N2W304V]

($1 = 1,287.0400 won)