North Korea Now Has an Unidentified Intestinal Epidemic & is ‘Curbing Its Spread’

While battling another wave of COVID-19 infections, North Korea has been hit by an unidentified intestinal epidemic.

Here’s how they’re allegedly curbing its spread.

Suspected Cholera or Typhoid

According to North Korean state news agency KCNA, leader Kim Jong Un sent medicine to the western port city of Haeju on 15 June. They said that it was to help patients suffering from the epidemic that is targeting the gastrointestinal tracts.

This is pretty concerning, especially since Haeju city is located in the South Hwanghae Province, which is North Korea’s key agricultural region. This might cause the food situation to be even more dire, with shortages already being exacerbated by droughts.

KCNA added that Kim stressed the need to contain this epidemic as early as possible. This is done through quarantining suspected cases and confirming cases through epidemiological examination and scientific testing.

However, they did not give any details, like the number of people affected or identifying the disease. An official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry said that the disease is suspected to be cholera or typhoid.

Earlier, South Korea’s spy agency reportedly said that waterborne diseases like typhoid were already widespread in North Korea. According to infectious disease experts, the key to curbing the spread of waterborne diseases would be to disinfect the water supply sources.

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State of Emergency Last Month

North Korea’s medical departments must be having a pretty tough time. This epidemic comes right as they are still tackling a wave of COVID-19 infections.

In fact, the state declared a state of emergency last month, and there were concerns over a lack of vaccines and medical supplies.

Pyongyang has been announcing the number of fever patients daily. However, they did not specify them to be COVID-19 patients due to a lack of testing kits.

North Korea reported 26,010 more people with fever symptoms on Thursday, with the total number of fever patients recorded across the country since late April nearing 4.56 million. The death toll linked to the outbreak is at 73.

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