North Korea’s military has stepped up drug distribution to fight the COVID-19 epidemic, official KCNA news agency said Tuesday, which reported nearly 1.5 million cases of “fever.”
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Leader Kim Jong Un has ordered a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus in the country whose population is unvaccinated and deployed the military to help fight the outbreak, whose management he has criticized.
Hundreds of members of the Korean People’s Army in camouflage uniforms gathered in the capital, Pyongyang, in photos released by KCNA.
The military “urgently dispatched its strong forces to all pharmacies in the city of Pyongyang and started delivering medicines under a 24-hour service,” KCNA said.
A photo from the agency shows soldiers walking past a long line of olive-green trucks.
Kim Jong Un on Monday sharply criticized the government and health authorities for their handling of the outbreak, particularly for failing to keep pharmacies open around the clock.
Since the country announced its first case of Covid last Thursday, the leader has taken personal control of the fight against the epidemic, which he says is causing “major upheaval” in the country.
Authorities have reported more than 1.48 million cases of “fever” and 56 deaths since the outbreak of COVID in the country, and “at least 663,910 people are receiving medical treatment,” according to the same source.
According to KCNA, authorities have ramped up media awareness campaigns and pharmaceutical companies have ramped up drug production.
Healthcare system ranked 193 out of 195
North Korea’s healthcare system was ranked 193rd out of 195 countries by a study by the American Johns Hopkins University last year.
The country’s hospitals are notoriously under-resourced, with few intensive care units.
According to experts, the country has no treatment for COVID-19 and does not have the capacity to test its population massively.
“Most North Koreans are chronically malnourished and unvaccinated, medicine is scarce in the country, and health infrastructure is inadequate to deal with this pandemic,” said Lina Yoon, Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch.
She called on the international community to offer North Korea medicines, vaccines and infrastructure.
According to South Korea’s unification ministry, Pyongyang has not yet responded to Seoul’s offer.
South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk-yeol is tougher on his nuclear-armed neighbor than his predecessor.
On Monday he told the National Assembly that he “would not hesitate to provide the North Korean people with the necessary assistance” on condition that they accept it.
Despite the health crisis, new satellite images show North Korea has resumed construction of a long-paused nuclear reactor.
Washington and Seoul suspect Pyongyang of preparing a nuclear test, which would be the seventh in its history and the first since 2017, to divert the attention of the North Korean people from the health crisis.