NK’s suspected virus caseload nears two million

SEOUL: North Korea reported 262,270 more suspected Covid-19 cases as its pandemic caseload neared two million – a week after the country acknowledged the outbreak and scrambled to slow infections in its unvaccinated population.

The country is also trying to prevent its fragile economy from deteriorating further, but the outbreak could be worse than officially reported since the country lacks virus tests and other health care resources and may be under-reporting deaths to soften the political impact on authoritarian leader Kim Jong-un.