Contents
North Korea is facing another epidemic. In a country where the coronavirus pandemic has not yet been controlled, an outbreak of an infectious gastrointestinal disease of bacterial origin has emerged. At the moment it is not known how many people got sick.
- The coronavirus pandemic has been going on in North Korea for several weeks. Over 4,5 million people have already fallen ill
- A few days ago, a new infection appeared in one province. It’s an intestinal bacterial disease. The authorities do not provide details, but it could be dysentery, cholera or typhoid fever (typhoid fever)
- The country’s leader Kim Jong Un provided medicines to those in need. The most important party officials followed him
- There has indeed been an infectious disease outbreak there, but Korea is using this as an opportunity to emphasize that Kim cares about her people, says one expert
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
The country leader donated medicines to the needy
After an infectious enteric disease outbreak in one region of North Korea, key advisers to country leader Kim Jong Un, including his sister, donated drugs to help people affected by the epidemic. This was reported by the state media. Earlier, Kim himself donated his private collections of drugs.
Kim Jo Jong, the dictator’s younger sister who serves as deputy head of the department of the Central Committee of the Korean Labor Party, and other top officials asked “party organizations to send to households in Haeju City and Kangryong County, South Hwanghae Province, medicines prepared by their families,” he said. the official Korean Central Information Agency (KCNA).
Jo Yong-won, secretary for organizational affairs of the party’s Central Committee, said he would “make sure that the families of officials from the party’s departments voluntarily offer to help the sick to ease their discomfort and pain as soon as possible.”
Transport of drugs to more than 800 families suffering from infectious disease in South Hwanghae province is to be organized on Friday. This number suggests that the disease may affect at least 2 people. people.
Acute intestinal infection
On Thursday, North Korea reported an “acute intestinal infection” outbreak in the city of Haeju in South Hwanghae Province. Medical services have not specified what kind of disease it is, but it is most likely one of the infectious diseases, such as typhoid fever (typhus), dysentery or cholera, which are most often the result of consumption of contaminated water or food or contact with the faeces of infected people.
These diseases are a regular occurrence in North Korea, which lacks water treatment facilities and the public health infrastructure is in dire shape (and has remained unchanged for several decades).
Bowel diseases like typhoid fever and shigellosis (bacterial dysentery) are not new to North Korea, but worryingly they are coming at a time when the country is already struggling with COVID-19, Professor Shin told Reuters Young-jeon from Hanyang University College of Medicine in Seoul.
It was not stated exactly how many people were infected.
South Korean intelligence services have previously reported that with the outbreak of “febrile disease”, diseases such as measles, typhoid and whooping cough were affecting a significant number of patients.
– Outbreaks of measles or typhus are not uncommon in North Korea. I think it’s true that an infectious disease outbreak has broken out there, but Korea is using this as an opportunity to emphasize that Kim cares about her people, said Ahn Kyung-su, head of the Korean health website. “So it’s more a political message than a medical one,” he added.
As reported by the KCNA agency, the first batch of medical supplies “donated” by the North Korean leader reached those in need earlier this week. The North Rodong Sinmun newspaper featured a front page photo of Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju browsing saline solutions and other supplies that had been given to those in need.
Subsequent deliveries from the Kim family and its most important associates are to “bring relief” to residents previously affected by the recently developing coronavirus pandemic.
According to the latest data provided by the KCNA, so far in a country of 26 million people, more than 4,5 million people have fallen ill due to an unidentified fever, as the coronavirus is called there. The official death toll is only 73. Foreign experts question the data on the deaths. In their opinion, they are understated so as not to jeopardize the reputation of the country’s leader. Such a low number of deaths is also due to the lack of an adequate number of tests for the presence of coronavirus.
Experts are concerned about the consequences of the rising number of COVID-19 cases. North Korea is a poor country known for its inefficient health care system and chronic food and drug shortages.
Last week, Kim Jong Una stated that the pandemic has passed through a stage of “serious crisis”. In North Korea, however, restrictions introduced immediately after the first infections are still in force.
Do you want to test your immunity to COVID-19 after vaccination? Have you been infected and want to check your antibody levels? See the COVID-19 immunity test package,
South Korea recently renewed its offer to cooperate with its northern neighbor to minimize the effects of the pandemic. Along with the United States, it also offered to supply vaccines and medical supplies, but both appeals remained unanswered.
We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to self-compassion – a trend that has developed very strongly in the United States, but is still in its infancy in Poland. What is it and how does it affect our daily functioning? You will hear about this and many other issues related to self-compassion in the latest episode of our podcast.