North Korea Covid Crisis set to worsen!

About  week ago on North Korean state TV the supreme leader Kim Jong Un tours pharmacies and lectures officials about what he calls the country's great turmoil. Children put on performances dressed as bottles of hand sanitizer and workers spritz public places.

The official panic in this country is real as suspected cases of COVID-19 jump by hundreds of thousands daily. The world health organization fears an uncontrollable spread particularly because the population is unvaccinated and many have underlying conditions putting them at risk of severe disease and death. 

As fever cases sweep across the country state television reveals a confident commander in chief leading the way presiding over a politburo meeting, Cigarette in hand Kim Jong Un accused his officials of being inadequate and slammed their response to the first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak as immature.

Soon after the nation's non existent vaccine program and severe lack of medical supplies were exposed, It's surely impossible to pin down the extent of the outbreak in the secretive nation. 

North Korea has confirmed more than 1.7 million cases of fever but it says the virus situation is taking a favorable turn the armed forces have been mobilized and according to state media treatments ranging from pain killers to home remedies are working.

What actually works is antivirals which they don't have. It's a matter of incredible urgency. But offers of vaccines are being met with silence. 

North Korea has rejected all offers of vaccines from abroad saying it doesn't trust supplies not even from its ally China. 

For two years as the global pandemic surged, Isolated North korea boasted of zero Covid case that recently changed, As trade with China increased and a series of national celebrations in April meant huge unvaccinated crowds spreading the virus.

There's speculation that parade marking 90 years of the country's military was a super spreader event, Huge crowds unmasked and not socially distanced.

The North Korean regime probably is worried about the optics of it that the regime is not capable enough. It's just terrible there are 26 million people who are already living under one of the harshest regimes in the world and now they're facing this terrible health situation. 

Trouble is North Korea doesn't have many resources to stop Covid. Not enough masks or hospital beds or even COVID-19 tests. 

On top North Korea is desperately poor with almost half the population under-nourished. 

The United Nations has warned that locking down the country would have dire consequences for those already struggling to feed their families.

The South Korean president is trying to convince Kim to accept help from abroad until now North Korea said NO.

Officially North Korea's death toll is less than a hundred. Experts say if it keeps rejecting outside help though half a million or more could end up dying.