North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly declared victory over COVID-19.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Kim reported North Korea’s total COVID-19 death toll since April as 74, calling it an “unprecedented miracle” compared to other countries, according to NK News. State media has reported zero new cases since July.
Kim said the country’s official death rate of 74 people since April could be considered an “unprecedented miracle” compared to other countries, according to state media.
— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) August 10, 2022
“According to information of the state emergency anti-epidemic headquarters, no new COVID-19 fever cases were reported from 18:00 of August 8 to 18:00 of August 9 throughout the country,” Rodong Sinmun, a North Korean state media outlet, said on Wednesday. State media has claimed no new COVID-19 cases since July 30, according to PBS.
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Medical professionals and experts greatly doubt North Korea’s official COVID-19 statistics. A claimed 74 deaths out of approximately 4.8 million cases would mean a 0.0016% death rate; the lowest in the world by a huge margin. Neighboring South Korea, with a modern healthcare system and healthy population, has a 0.12% death rate, according to the BBC — 75 times greater than that claimed by North Korea, which has a dilapidated healthcare system and high rates of malnutrition.
Shin Young-jeon, a professor at Hanyang University’s medical school in Seoul, South Korea, told Reuters that the country’s true death toll is likely closer to 50,000.
North Korea claimed to have insulated itself from COVID-19 for over two years due to its isolationist nature. The situation changed in 2022, when the country was faced with an outbreak of the omicron variant. North Korea acknowledged for the first time a COVID-19 infection within its borders in May.
“What is certain is that North Korea has been the fastest and most faithfully in the world to block the source of infection … the fastest in the world since the early days of [coronavirus] in 2020. This part is very important. So, it is analyzed that the [coronavirus] situation has been well managed for two years. But in 2022, a strong omicron mutation occurred this year. That’s why the North Korean authorities are also showing symptoms of fever, so they have no choice but to disclose the statistics to the residents,” Ahn Kyung-su, head of dprkhealth.org, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea, said in an interview with Radio Free Asia.
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Nevertheless, some experts say Kim’s new claim shows that the COVID-19 situation in the isolated country is at least under control, for now. “I’m sure that the [coronavirus] situation in North Korea is stable now. It is reasonable to judge that it is being controlled. I think you should look at the flow that the numbers represent, apart from the numbers,” Ahn said.
