On Friday, North Korea reported that it had not recorded any “fever” for the seventh consecutive day, and confirmed that all people who had suffered from Covid-19 disease in the country had recovered.
“No new cases of fever were reported in the past week, and all those who received treatment have recovered,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported today.
North Korean authorities use the term “fever” to refer to those infected with Covid-19, due to a lack of tests to detect the disease, according to reports.
North Korea, one of the first countries in the world to close its borders in January 2020 after the emergence of COVID-19 in neighboring China, has long touted its ability to contain the virus.
North Korea announced the first case of COVID-19 on its soil on May 12 and activated the “maximum emergency pandemic prevention system”, with leader Kim Jong-un himself supervising the government’s response.
According to the North Korean News Agency, the epidemiological situation has entered a “stabilization phase”.
North Korea has recorded about 4.8 million cases of Covid-19 since the end of April, according to the official North Korean News Agency, which indicated that “99.994%” of the infected people have fully recovered, while only 204 patients are undergoing treatment.
The North Korean health system was ranked 193 out of 195 countries in a study prepared by Johns Hopkins University in the United States last year.
“It’s hard to believe a country says that the confirmed number of patients has suddenly become zero,” said Anne Chan-il, an expert on North Korean studies.
“It seems right to say that COVID-19 is also used to highlight Kim Jong Un’s leadership role and promote loyalty to him, whatever the truth, just as military weapons and nuclear programs are used,” she added.
At the end of May, the state-run Central News Agency reported “progress” in diagnosing and treating patients with COVID-19.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Pyongyang’s assertion that it was controlling the outbreak seemed “fairly credible”.
He added that the situation appeared to be returning to normal because “there are no indications of strengthening restrictions at the border, no official request for assistance or for medical equipment has been made to Beijing and the diplomats are still in place.”
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