Covid-19 may spread rapidly in North Korea, WHO warns

Kim blasted officials over slow medicine deliveries and ordered his military to respond to the surging but largely undiagnosed COVID-19 crisis that has left 1.2 million people ill with fever and 50 dead in a matter of days, state media said Monday. Credit: KCNA VIA KNS / AFP

The World Health Organization warned on Monday that Covid-19 may spread rapidly in North Korea, where it said vaccination programmes had yet to begin.

"With the country yet to initiate Covid-19 vaccination, there is risk that the virus may spread rapidly among the masses unless curtailed with immediate and appropriate measures," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO's regional director for South-East Asia, in a statement sent to journalists.

In the same statement, the WHO said it had yet to receive information about the reported outbreak directly from local authorities.

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