Coronavirus: North Korea’s Kim Jong-un accuses officials of ‘immaturity’ and ‘slackness’ after jump in suspected Covid cases

North Korea on Wednesday reported 232,880 new cases of fever and another six deaths as leader Kim Jong-un accused officials of “immaturity” and “slackness” in handling the escalating Covid-19 outbreak ravaging across the unvaccinated nation.

The country’s antivirus headquarters said 62 people have died and more than 1.7 million have fallen ill amid a rapid spread of fever since late April. It said more than a million people recovered but at least 691,170 remain in quarantine.

Outside experts say most of the illnesses would be Covid-19, although North Korea has been able to confirm only a small number of Covid-19 cases since acknowledging an omicron outbreak last week, likely because of insufficient testing capabilities.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that North Korea has not responded to its request for more data about its outbreak.

North Korea and Eritrea are the only sovereign UN-member countries not to have rolled out vaccines, but Tedros said neither country has responded to WHO’s offers of vaccines, medicines, tests and technical support.

“WHO is deeply concerned at the risk of further spread in [North Korea],” Tedros said, also noting the country has worrying numbers of people with underlying conditions that make them more likely to get severe Covid-19.

A failure to control the outbreak could have dire consequences in North Korea, considering its broken healthcare system and its rejection of internationally offered vaccines that has left a population of 26 million unimmunized.