By SungHyuk An and Heejung Jung

SEOUL (Reuters). – Five North Korean health professionals stand in bright red hazmat suit and make way for an ambulance. The goal is to fight a COVID-19 virus outbreak. In the absence of vaccines, the nation uses home remedies as well as antibiotics to combat the disease.

This isolated country is among only two that have yet started a vaccination campaign. It had previously claimed it was free of COVIDs up until last week.

The army is being mobilized and the public is informed to counter what is being called “explosive”, according to authorities.

Kim Hyong Hun, the Vice Minister of Public Health said Monday that the country has moved from quarantine to a treatment program to deal with the thousands of “fever-related” cases being reported every day.

A broadcaster presented footage of the hazmat crew and mask-wearing workers cleaning windows and disinfecting desks.

State media encourage patients to take painkillers, fever relievers, such as amoxicillin, and ibuprofen. These antibiotics do not combat viruses, but can be prescribed for secondary infections.

Although vaccines were previously dismissed as “no panacea”, the media recommend that you drink salt water or lonicera japonica or willow tea at least three times per day.

Traditional therapies are better than modern ones! One woman described her husband’s habit of giving their children salt water each morning and evening, according to state broadcasters.

One elderly Pyongyang woman claimed she was helped by ginger tea, ventilation and her own room.

In a televised interview, she stated that while I was at first afraid of COVID, “after following the doctor’s advice and receiving the right treatments it became not much of a problem.”

“Lack of Understanding”

The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, said on Sunday – when state news agency KCNA reported 392,920 more cases of fever and eight more deaths – that drugs reserves were not reaching people, and ordered the army medical corps to help stabilize supplies in Pyongyang, where the outbreak appears to be centred.

KCNA reported that the total number of fever-stricken people was 1,213,550 with 50 deaths. However, it did not indicate how many people had been diagnosed with COVID.

According to authorities, a significant number of deaths were caused by people who “carelessly took drugs” due to a lack of understanding and knowledge about the Omicron variant as well as the proper treatment.

Some health supplies and medical equipment have been shipped by the World Health Organization (WHO) to North Korea. However, they are not revealing what drug these items contain. South Korea and China, both neighbors to North Korea, have offered aid in exchange for Pyongyang’s request.

Although North Korea does not claim that home remedies and antibiotics will cure COVID, it has a history of creating scientifically incontestable treatments. One example is an injection made with ginseng, which was grown in rare earth components. This treatment claimed to be able to treat everything, from AIDS, impotence, and even AIDS.

While some have traditional roots, others are developed to counter a dearth of modern medicines or “made in North Korea exports”.

Experts say that North Korea is severely underresourced in its medical system despite having a large number of doctors who are trained and have the experience to mobilize for emergencies.

A March report by an U.N. independent human rights investigator stated that it is plagued with “under-investment of infrastructure, medical staff, equipment, and medicine, irregular power supply, and insufficient water and sanitation facilities.”

Kim Myeong-Hee is 40 years old and left North Korea to seek out South Korea’s remedies.

“Even if you go to hospital, there is no medicine. “There was also no electricity,” she stated.

When she contracted acute hepatitis, she said she was told to take minari – a water parsley made famous by the 2020 film of the same name – every day, and to eat earthworms when afflicted by another, unknown illness.

Kim said that home remedies sometimes did not prevent deaths from epidemics during the 1990s.