Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

WHO: North Korea Is Free of COVID-19


Wed 18 Aug 2021 | 09:18 AM
Ahmed Moamar

A report authored by the experts of the World Health Organization (WHO)  revealed that "no infections with   the Coronavirus have been reported in North Korea so far."

The report showed that North Korea conducted diagnostic tests for the Coronavirus on 639 national during the period from July 30 to August 5, but the results of all tests were all negative, bringing the cumulative number of people undergoing Corona tests to 35,947, without any infection reported across the country.

In a related context, North Korea was supposed to receive 1,922 million doses of vaccines against the Coronavirus through the international joint anti-coronavirus vaccine purchase system "COFAX", while vaccine supplies have not yet started.

This system seeks to provide vaccines to the poor and low-income countries in all parts of the world.

It should be noted that the UN Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee recently granted the United Nations Children's Fund "UNICEF" an exemption for the North Korean health support project from sanctions for an additional year.

On the other hand, floods caused by heavy rain in North Korea at the beginning of the second week of August damaged more than 1,000 homes and flooded large areas of agricultural land. This prompted the government to evacuate about 5,000 people, according to state television.

Footage from state-run KCTV showed homes with water that rose to their roofs, as well as damaged roads and bridges.

"In addition to homes and roads, "hundreds of hectares of farmland" in South Hamgyong Province were inundated as river embankments collapsed," the report said,

Last month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forecast that North Korea faces a food shortage of 860,000 tons this year, warning that the country could witness a "severe drought."

The North's official news agency reported that leader Kim Jong Un "issued an order to provide strong national material and financial support to South Hamgyong Province in its flood recovery campaign."