North Korea says pandemic situation being controlled and is improving

A doctor (right) from the Korean People's Army visits a pharmacy to give a woman prescription medicine in Pyongyang on May 27, 2022.North Korea has reported a total of 3.44 million infections since the end of April. - AFP

PYONGYANG, May 29(Bloomberg): The pandemic situation in North Korea is being controlled and is improving, state media Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday, citing a meeting overseen by leader Kim Jong-Un.

Officials reported the latest number of daily "fever” cases rose by 980. More than 89,500 cases were recorded for the 24 hours ending May 28 at 6 pm KCNA said.

The country has reported a total of 3.44 million infections since the end of April, with 94% of them having recovered, according to the report.

Kim has declared a state of emergency and mobilised troops to try contain the spread of what the state calls a "malicious” epidemic.

The North Korean leader led a meeting of the Political Bureau of the country’s powerful Workers’ Party of Korea to assess the outbreak, KCNA reported, without saying when it took place.

"It made a positive evaluation of the pandemic situation being controlled and improved across the country,” according to KCNA.

The report comes after China reported new Covid-19 cases in cities bordering North Korea.

The US has offered to provide Covid-19 vaccines to North Korea, but President Joe Biden said Pyongyang has not responded to the offer. - Bloomberg