North Korea has not reported a single coronavirus infection though several hundred people have died of the virus in China, with which it has a land border. South Korea and Russia, which have land borders with North Korea, have reported the virus. Almost all territories and countries in South-east Asia have reported the virus. As CNN says, every country in a 1,500-mile radius of North Korea have reported the virus. But then, North Korea has always been an enigma shrouded in mystery.
North Koreans must be extraordinarily privileged if the virus hasn't made an entry into the country. After all, as much as 90 percent of North Korea's trade is with China. Experts have also said that large Chinese provinces close to the border with North Korea have reported the virus.
Death toll hits 638
On Friday, the death toll from the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection has reached 638, with 636 fatalities reported in China, As many as 31,452 cases have been reported, 31,161 of them in China. While the disease has spread to 26 countries, only Hong Kong and the Philippines have reported coronavirus fatalities outside mainland China.
However, the silence from Pyongyang does not mean that the totalitarian regime hasn't heard about the catastrophe unfolding next-doors. The government announced a "state emergency," early in January and set up an anti-epidemic headquarters, state news agency KCNA had said. As many as 30,000 public health personnel have been roped in to mobilize the effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Heightened alert in North Korea
More recently, the regime put all people who entered the country after January 13 under medical supervision, the agency had reported. North Korea has even restricted the movement of foreign diplomats in the country. Diplomats are not allowed to enter or leave the country, South Korea's ChosunIlbo has reported.
Yet, curiously, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in North Korea. And the ominous silence from the reclusive country is a cause of concern for global health experts. Impoverished North Korea doesn't have enough medical resources to deal with a national health emergency. The world will never know the extent of damage an epidemic like cronavirus can inflict on the people.
Infections did happen, says South Korea news outlet
Meanwhile, the ChosunIlbo has reported, citing sources, that several suspected coronavirus infections have happened in North Korea. The report says that the virus was brought to North Korea by people using the illicit trade and human trafficking routes along the border with China.
As per South Korean reports, two people are ill in Sinuiju province. More patients have been quarantined in Musan in North Hamgyong Province. While Liaoning province of China, which is ear Sinuiju, has 74 confirmed coronavirus cases, Jilin Province near the border with Musan has 42 case.
"We know that the Chinese regions close to the North Korean border, such as Dandong and Shenyang, have confirmed patients. About 90% of North Korean trade is with China and we know so many people, trucks and trains passed through the border between the two nations before North Korea installed recent regulations" Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University, told CNN.
