North Korea has had an outbreak of an unidentified intestinal sickness, adding to the strain caused by the spread of COVID-19.
The official KCNA news agency reports that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has implemented quarantine measures and sent medicine to Haeju city last week to help patients suffering from the “acute enteric epidemic”.
A state of emergency was declared in North Korea in May after millions of people experienced “fever”, believed to be untested COVID-19 cases.
An official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said the government and health experts suspect the outbreak to be cholera or typhoid, reports the BBC.
The country lacks COVID testing kits and many suspect the government of under-reporting new cases. North Korea reported 26,010 more people with fever symptoms on 16 June, with the total number of “fever patients” recorded countrywide since late April nearing 4.56m.
While the government has reported the death toll as being just 73, the World Health Organisation and others believe the statistics are far higher.
BBC article – North Korea announces outbreak of intestinal sickness (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
North Korea admits to ‘explosive’ outbreak of COVID, then claims a miraculous recovery
Vulnerable Taiwan hailed for its successful response to COVID-19
South Korea’s lesson to the world on how to live with COVID