Coronavirus: North Korea reports success with outbreak as analysts cry ‘nonsense’

State media reported no new deaths for the first time in nearly two weeks on Tuesday, saying cases were ‘stable’ and trending downwards

But doubts have been raised about the accuracy of Pyongyang’s statistics, which one analyst said were ‘essentially nonsense’

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A woman has her temperature checked in Pyongyang earlier this month as an antivirus measure. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Published: 3:06pm, 24 May 2022Updated: 3:14pm, 24 May 2022

North Korea said on Tuesday there were no new deaths among fever patients in the country, the first time since it flagged a Covid-19 outbreak nearly two weeks ago, adding that it was seeing a “stable” downward trend in pandemic-related cases.

The Covid-19 wave, which North Korea first declared on May 12, has fuelled concerns over a lack of vaccines, inadequate medical infrastructure and a potential food crisis in the country of 25 million.

But the North said it was reporting “successes” in stemming the spread of the virus, and that there was no new fever deaths reported as of Monday evening despite adding 134,510 new patients.

A worker disinfects a shop in Pyongyang last year, before the start of North Korea’s first publicly acknowledged Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: AP

It marked a third consecutive day the daily figure stayed below 200,000 and the first time for the North to report no new deaths since announcing the number of daily fever patients, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Apparently deprived of testing supplies, North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus, instead, reporting the number with fever symptoms.

The total number of such cases, tallied since late April, rose to 2.95 million, while the death toll stood at 68, according to KCNA.