As a wave of Covid cases sweeps the country, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has chastised health officials and ordered the army to assist in the distribution of drugs.
According to state media, more than a million people have been affected by a “fever” in Pyongyang.
There have been 50 deaths, although it’s unknown how many of those instances tested positive for Covid.
Because North Korea has limited testing capabilities, only a few examples have been confirmed.
Because of a lack of vaccines and a poor healthcare system, North Koreans are particularly vulnerable to the virus. In the remote country, there is a nationwide lockdown.
State media said Mr Kim led an emergency politburo meeting at the weekend where he accused officials of bungling the distribution of the national medicine reserves.
He ordered that the “powerful forces” of the army’s medical corps step in to “immediately stabilise the supply of medicines in Pyongyang City”.
Although specialists believe the virus has been circulating for some time, the country revealed its first confirmed Covid cases last week.
Mr. Kim has implemented “maximum emergency” virus measures, which include workplace lockdowns and gathering limitations.
Last year, the international community offered millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made vaccines to North Korea, but Pyongyang claimed control of Covid by locking its borders early in January 2020.
