Covid is spreading rapidly in North Korea, where the number of suspected cases since the start of the outbreak in late April is now more than 2.6 million, according to the latest official figures. Or to put that another way: approximately 10 per cent of the population. The outlook is grim. North Korea has no vaccines, limited supplies of even basic medicines, and its citizens are chronically malnourished. Public health experts are warning that the death toll could be “unprecedented”.
South Korea, China, the United States, and the global vaccine-sharing programme Covax have all offered help, but so far the response from Pyongyang, in public at least, has been silence.
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