North Korea Claims First 10,000-Level New Fever Cases... Cumulative Fever Cases Reach 4.62 Million

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] North Korea claimed that the number of new fever cases suspected to be COVID-19 has decreased to the 10,000 range.

On the 19th, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited the National Emergency Anti-epidemic Command, reporting that from 6 p.m. on the 17th for 24 hours, the newly confirmed fever patients nationwide were approximately 19,310. It also disclosed that during this period, about 21,930 fever patients had recovered.

As of the previous day, the number of new deaths, cumulative deaths, and fatality rate were not disclosed. As of the 15th, the cumulative death toll was 73, and the fatality rate was 0.002%.

The daily new fever cases reported by KCNA reached 400,000 as of the 15th of last month. Since then, the number remained in the 20,000 range for four consecutive days starting from the 14th, before dropping to the 10,000 range for the first time on this day.

Additionally, KCNA stated that from the end of April until the afternoon of the previous day, the total number of fever patients nationwide in North Korea was approximately 4,621,110, of whom about 4,587,250 had recovered, and around 33,780 were still receiving treatment.

The scale of new fever patients in North Korea peaked at approximately 392,920 on the 15th of last month, then decreased daily to the 200,000 range from the 16th to the 20th, and to the 100,000 range from the 21st to the 26th. Since the 30th of last month, the number has consistently remained below 100,000.

However, there are criticisms that the number of deaths is too low compared to the reported number of fever patients, and intelligence authorities also assess that North Korea’s announcements are largely aimed at calming public sentiment, making it difficult to fully trust North Korean statistics as they are.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.