With the rapid spread of COVID-19 in North Korea, the number of confirmed cases and deaths is also increasing rapidly.
In response, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued a special order to send in the People’s Army to stabilize the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19)-related medicines because they were not being distributed in a timely manner.
Executives in the judicial and prosecution departments, including the head of the Central Prosecutors’ Office, also strongly criticized the failure to legally monitor and control negative phenomena such as drug hoarding and illegal distribution.
On the 15th, North Korea had nearly 400,000 new cases of fever, and eight people died. Since the end of last month, the cumulative death toll has reached 50.
The Korean Central News Agency announced on the 16th that “The Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea convened another emergency council on May 15 and conducted a project to discuss quarantine measures.”
Chairman Kim, who presided over the meeting, said, “In order to quickly contain and manage the spread of the epidemic, the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee even issued emergency orders to urgently release and urgently supply national reserve medicines, and all pharmacies are expected to move to a 24-hour operating system. However, it has not yet been mobilized and the execution has not been carried out immediately,” he pointed out.
In addition, Chairman Kim “analyzed the current situation in which medicines are not being supplied to pharmacies in a timely manner,” the news agency reported.
Chairman Kim issued a special order to the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea to immediately stabilize the drug supply business in Pyongyang City by using the powerful capabilities of the military sector of the People’s Army, the news agency reported.
In addition, he strongly criticized the head of the Central Prosecutors’ Office and the judicial and prosecutors’ departments for failing to legally enforce the party’s drug supply policy.
Chairman Kim pointed out that “the judicial and prosecution departments, which are supposed to provide strong legal guarantees for the implementation of party policies, are not properly monitoring and controlling the law to ensure that administrative orders related to drug insurance are implemented quickly and accurately.”
He continued, “He pointed out that various negative phenomena in the handling and sales of pharmaceuticals nationwide have not been corrected, and the director of the Central Prosecutor’s Office, who does not feel any responsibility or remorse, and does not play any role, even in a severe situation, acts of negligence and negligence. was bitterly rebuked,” the news agency reported.
After the meeting of the Politburo on that day, Chairman Kim personally visited a pharmacy in the Taedonggang district of Pyongyang to directly check the supply and sales of medicines.
Chairman Kim explained the types of medicines supplied after the conversion to the ‘maximum emergency quarantine system’ in the field, whether medicines are stored and managed according to regulations and whether pharmacies are actually operated 24 hours a day, the main contents of consultations with patients, and the types and prices of medicines most frequently requested by patients. The back was carefully inspected.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency on the same day, from 6 p.m. on the 14th to 6 p.m. the previous day in North Korea, about 399,920 new cases of fever (fever) occurred and eight people died. A total of 50 people have died so far.
From the end of last month to 6 p.m. the previous day, the total number of sick people nationwide was 1,213,550, of which 648,630 were fully recovered, and 564,860 were receiving treatment.
Since North Korea first officially acknowledged the fact that there were confirmed COVID-19 cases, the number of new fever cases estimated to be COVID-19 infection was 18,000 on the 12th, 174,440 on the 13th, 296,180 on the 14th, and 39 on the 15th. The number continues to grow rapidly to 2,920 people.
Considering that North Korea is currently counting patients with the term ‘excited’ instead of ‘confirmed’ due to a lack of testing equipment, the actual number of confirmed cases and deaths is estimated to be higher than the published tally.
