North Korea has identified its first ever case of Covid-19, state media reported on Wednesday.
The state-run news agency KCNA reported the case of the Omicron variant in the capital Pyongyang, 称情况为 “major national emergency.”
It is not clear how many cases have been detected.
An outbreak of Covid-19 could prove dire for North Korea. The country’s dilapidated health care infrastructure is unlikely to be up to the task of treating a large number of patients with a highly infectious disease.
North Korea had not previously acknowledged any coronavirus cases, though experts claim that may be a product of Pyongyang’s limited testing capacity.
Few believe that a country of around 25 million people has been spared by a virus that has infected millions worldwide, especially after its state media warned in 2020 that an incident involving a symptomatic defector from South Korea might lead to a “deadly and destructive disaster.”
这是一个发展中的故事. More to come.
