North Korea deploys military to fight 1.5 million ‘fever cases’

Bloomberg

Kim Jong-un mobilised North Korea’s military to help fight one of the biggest crises he has faced in his decade as leader,
as suspected Covid-19 cases reached nearly 1.5 million in less than a month.
Pyongyang reported 269,510 new “fever cases” and six deaths nationwide in a 24-hour period, the state’s official Korean Central News Agency reported. Since late April 56 people have died.
North Korea has not called the hundreds of thousands of fever cases “Covid,” likely because the reclusive country doesn’t have enough testing kits to confirm that the cases were caused by the
coronavirus. The spreading cases indicate the country may be facing a public health crisis that could overwhelm its antiquated medical system.
The country is even more vulnerable after it refused vaccines. Estimates from the United Nations’ food aid agency said about 40% of its population is undernourished, which could magnify the impact of the virus.
“The Covid situation could be a real threat to regime stability unless North Korea can effectively and quickly contain the spread of the virus,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a non-resident fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center.
“Kim Jong-un has had to deal with his share of problems since coming to power, but none of them threatened national existence the way this crisis is,” said Lee, who worked as an analyst for the CIA’s Open Source Enterprise for almost two decades.
Most international aid workers left the country after it closed its borders at the start of the pandemic and North Korea has so far refused or ignored international offers for assistance.