North Korea on May 21 reported more than 200,000 new patients suffering from fever for a fifth consecutive day, as the country fought its first confirmed coronavirus outbreak.
Standing tall in bright red hazmat suits, five North Korean health workers stride towards an ambulance to do battle with a COVID-19 outbreak that – in the presumed absence of vaccines – the country is using antibiotics and home remedies to treat. The isolated state is one of only two countries yet to begin a vaccination campaign and, until last week, had insisted it was COVID-free. Now North Korea is mobilizing forces including the army and a public information campaign to combat what authorities have acknowledged is an “explosive” outbreak.
Explainer: How North Korea’s COVID-19 outbreak could ignite a major health crisis
Coronavirus, Coronavirus Diagnostic Tests, Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic, Coronavirus Vaccines, COVAX Facility, COVID-19 Crisis, COVID-19 Deaths, COVID-19 Molecular Diagnostic Tests, COVID-19 self-testing kit, COVID-19 shots, COVID-19 Testing, Covid-19 Testing Guidance, COVID-19 Therapeutic, COVID-19 vaccination rates, COVID-19 Vaccinations, COVID-19 Vaccines, Diagnostic Tests, North Korea, Outbreaks, Pandemics, Politics, South Korea, Vaccinations, Vaccines, World Health OrganizationNorth Korea’s admission that it is battling an “explosive” COVID-19 outbreak raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities, and no vaccine program.
North Korea reports first COVID-19 death as fever spreads ‘explosively’
Coronavirus, Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic, Coronavirus Vaccines, COVID-19 Deaths, COVID-19 Self Test, COVID-19 Testing, COVID-19 Vaccines, North Korea, Outbreaks, Pandemics, Politics, Pyongyang, South Korea, Therapeutics, VaccinesAt least one person confirmed to have COVID-19 has died in North Korea and hundreds of thousands have shown fever symptoms, state media said on May 13, offering hints at the potentially dire scale of the country’s first confirmed outbreak of the pandemic.
The state of Massachusetts on May 12 agreed to pay $56 million to resolve a lawsuit by families of veterans who contracted COVID-19 during an outbreak at a veterans’ care center that killed 84 people early in the pandemic.
North Korea reports first COVID outbreak, orders lockdown in “gravest emergency”
Coronavirus, COVAX Facility, COVID-19 Infections, COVID-19 Lockdown Measures, COVID-19 vaccination rates, COVID-19 Vaccinations, North Korea, Omicron (B.1.1.529) (South Africa), Outbreaks, Pyongyang, South Korea, World Health OrganizationNorth Korea reported the country’s first COVID-19 outbreak on May 12, calling it the “gravest national emergency” and ordering a national lockdown, with state media saying an Omicron variant had been detected in the capital, Pyongyang.
Shanghai is tightening an already strict COVID-19 lockdown in a fresh push to eliminate infections outside quarantined areas of China’s biggest city by late this month, people familiar with the matter said.
France is facing its worst bird flu crisis in history as a rare rebound in outbreaks of the highly contagious virus reached the country’s largest poultry producing regions with cullings topping more than 12 million birds.
Shanghai’s bespoke approach to tackling coronavirus outbreaks is coming under strain as new cases rise in the Chinese metropolis, with authorities reluctant to impose a comprehensive lockdown as other cities have done.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on March 18 that countries should provide free COVID-19 testing for refugees from Ukraine to avoid outbreaks as more than three million people flee their war-stricken homeland.