North Korea reports 6 deaths after announcing COVID-19 outbreak

North Korea reports 6 deaths after announcing COVID-19 outbreak
May 13, 2022, 9:49 am

North Korea-Pyongyang-Kim Il Sung square/Pixabay

The Anews reported, citing the Anadolu Agency, North Korea state-run media reported that the country on Friday (May 13) confirmed six deaths from COVID-19. The deaths are the first fatalities from the disease after announcing an outbreak.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the coronavirus started spreading in the country late last month, infecting more than 350,000 people so far.

Over 162,200 have recovered from the infection, while 187,800 people have been isolated for treatment.

The KCNA reported: "Six persons died (one of them tested positive for the BA.2 sub-variant of omicron)."

On Thursday (May 12), North Korea reported 18,000 new COVID-19 cases and imposed a nationwide lockdown.

Kim Jong Un ordered all cities into lockdown after North Korea reported its first Covid case.

He was seen wearing a face mask for the first time https://t.co/1W6hOfNQMU pic.twitter.com/Mwd8uTqVmr
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 12, 2022

North Korea is among the few countries that did not report any cases since the pandemic began more than two years ago.

On Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters where he was briefed on the current situation. He ordered the lockdown and measures to control the spread of the virus.

North Korea reports first positive Coronavirus case since start of the pandemic

North Korea's prevention strategy relied on a complete border shutdown since January 2020. The World Health Organization has no records of any COVID-19 vaccinations in the country of 25 million, with Pyongyang having turned down repeated offers of vaccine supplies from the international community.

Source: anews

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