North Korean health officials are applying coronavirus tests to samples from rivers and lakes and disinfecting the air and household waste to try to combat a Covid outbreak in the country, state media said on Friday.
Dictator Kim Jong-un declared a state of emergency and imposed a nationwide lockdown this month amid an unprecedented wave of the disease, which has raised concerns over a lack of vaccines and medical supplies in the country.
According to state news agency KCNA, the regime is collecting samples from various sources to see if the areas are infected. “Emergency anti-epidemic sectors prioritize the examination of samples collected in rivers and lakes, in addition to disinfecting hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of sewage and thousands of tons of garbage every day”, says the text.
It is not known what the testing and disinfection methods were, nor, therefore, their effectiveness against the coronavirus. A video provided by KCNA showed workers wearing protective clothing and masks carrying boxes with signs reading “sample loading” and “bacteria and virus testing”.
The Reuters news agency was unable to independently verify the information contained in the video. “Authorities are taking samples from people with fever and testing drinks produced at Pyongyang’s water factories to ensure they are clean and safe,” Jo Chol Ung, deputy head of Pyongyang Municipal Hygiene and Anti-Epidemic Center, said in the statement.
North Korea said last year that it had developed its own PCR testing equipment, but never confirmed how many people tested positive, releasing only the number of those with fever. About 100,000 people had the symptom on Thursday night (26), a reduction from the nearly 400,000 registered about ten days ago, KCNA reported, also on Friday, citing data from the state prevention center. of epidemics.
The agency reiterated the message released over the weekend that the outbreak is under control. According to the government, mortality has dropped dramatically, there is a tendency for contagions to stabilize and progress in the diagnosis and treatment of patients thanks to the “altruistic efforts” of doctors.
The total number of patients with what the regime calls a fever since April has risen to 3,270,850 — the country’s population is 25 million — and the death toll to 69. Experts say, however, that these numbers could be underreported and, therefore, make it difficult to assess the scale of the situation.
Pyongyang imported masks and ventilators before announcing 1st outbreak
Trade data released by Beijing on Friday showed that North Korea imported millions of masks, 1,000 ventilators and other medical supplies from China in the months before recognition of the country’s first Covid outbreak.
The dictatorship, which announced the first cases of Covid on May 12, bought, from January to April, more than 10.6 million masks – in December 2021 it had not acquired any. In those four months, China also exported nearly 95,000 thermometers to Korea, more than 33 times the total value of 2021.
A thousand non-invasive ventilators were also shipped to the country in April, worth US$266,891, as well as laboratory supplies that can be used in Covid detection test kits. Other medical exports included rubber gloves and protective clothing.
North Korea has closed its borders to nearly all commerce for most of the pandemic, only recently allowing supplies and goods onto trains and ships from China.
Three aircraft from North Korean company Air Koryo flew to China and returned to Pyongyang last week with medical supplies, a diplomatic source said. Dictator Kim Jong-un blamed authorities for the slow reaction to the outbreak and mobilized military personnel to work in pharmacies in Pyongyang.
