{"id":127229,"date":"2022-05-13T06:46:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T06:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=127229"},"modified":"2022-05-13T06:46:53","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T06:46:53","slug":"explainer-how-n-koreas-covid-19-outbreak-could-ignite-a-major-health-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/explainer-how-n-koreas-covid-19-outbreak-could-ignite-a-major-health-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Explainer-How N.Korea's COVID-19 outbreak could ignite a major health crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea\u2019s admission that it is battling an \u201cexplosive\u201d COVID-19 outbreak has raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities, and no vaccine programme.<\/p>

FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective face masks commute amid concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pyongyang, North Korea March 30, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo\/via REUTERS<\/figcaption>

The isolated North confirmed on Thursday its first COVID-19 infections since the pandemic emerged more than two years ago, shifting to the \u201cmaximum emergency epidemic prevention system\u201d and imposing a national lockdown. On Friday it reported its first COVID-related death.<\/p>\n

State media have not confirmed the total number of COVID-19 cases so far, but said that more than 350,000 people have shown fever symptoms since late April.<\/p>\n

NO VACCINATION, LIMITED TESTING<\/h2>\n

Along with Eritrea, North Korea is one of only two countries that have not started a vaccination campaign against COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n

The COVAX global COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme cut the number of doses allocated for North Korea as the country has so far failed to arrange for any shipments, reportedly over international monitoring requirements.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang also declined offers of vaccines from China.<\/p>\n

The latest reported assessment of whether leader Kim Jong Un was vaccinated was from July 2021, when South Korea\u2019s spy agency said there were no signs he had received a shot.<\/p>\n

North Korea said last year it had developed its own polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment to conduct coronavirus tests, and Russia has said it had delivered small numbers of test kits.<\/p>\n

But North Korea is heavily sanctioned over its nuclear weapons programme, and since 2020 has maintained strict border lockdowns that have blocked many supplies.<\/p>\n

Experts said that so far the pace of testing suggests North Korea cannot handle the number of symptomatic cases it has reported.<\/p>\n

As of the end of March, only 64,207 of North Korea\u2019s 25 million people had been tested for COVID, and all the results were negative, the latest WHO data shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Korea has been testing around 1,400 people each week. Assuming they were at their peak capacity, then they can perform 400 tests per day max – not nearly enough to test 350,000 people with symptoms,\u201d said Harvard Medical School\u2019s Kee Park, who has worked on health care projects in North Korea.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether North Korea has imposed any mask mandates since the pandemic began. Citizens were at times seen wearing masks, but also going mask-free at some major political events that mobilized tens of thousands of people.<\/p>\n

Kim was shown for the first time wearing a mask at the COVID response meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

MEDICAL SYSTEM LACKS SUPPLIES<\/h2>\n

North Korea ranks last in the world for its ability to rapidly respond to and mitigate the spread of an epidemic, according to the latest Global Health Security Index in December.<\/p>\n

Although it has a high number of trained doctors and the ability to rapidly deploy and organise staff in the face of emergencies, North Korea\u2019s health care system is chronically under-resourced.<\/p>\n

Every North Korean village has one or two clinics or hospitals, and most county hospitals are equipped with X-ray facilities, \u201cthough not necessarily functional ones,\u201d the WHO said in its 2014-2019 Country Cooperation Strategy report.<\/p>\n

Kwon Young-se, South Korea\u2019s new nominee to be the unification minister, responsible for inter-Korean ties, said at his confirmation hearing on Thursday the North is believed to lack even the most basic medical supplies such as painkillers and disinfectants.<\/p>\n

An independent U.N. human rights investigator reported in March that the North\u2019s COVID-19 restrictions, including the border closings, could have prevented massive outbreaks \u201cthough likely at considerable cost to the wider health situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChronic issues plague the country\u2019s healthcare system, including under-investment in infrastructure, medical personnel, equipment and medicine, irregular power supplies and inadequate water and sanitation facilities,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

POTENTIAL \u2018NIGHTMARE\u2019<\/p>\n

The outbreak could pose a political challenge for the North\u2019s authoritarian leader, North Koreans who had defected to the South said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKim ordered the mobilization of reserve medical supplies, which means in North Korea they will now use war reserves and that general hospitals have ran out of medicines,\u201d said Thae Young-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South in 2016 and is now a lawmaker.<\/p>\n

Ji Seong-ho, another South Korean lawmaker who left the North in 2006, said the virus could spread rapidly, due partly to the lack of a working medical system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn enormous number of people died during the (1990s) famine after typhoid broke out. It was a nightmare for the North Korean regime, and for the North Korean people,\u201d Ji told a parliamentary session.<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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