While South Korea reported over 8,000 Coronavirus cases of Novel Coronavirus outbreak, which emerged in China last December, North Korea hasn't reported any cases of COVID-19.
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un sent a note of sympathy to the South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the spread of the Novel Coronavirus there, while North Korea's border with China and its crumbling health care system worried experts about the spread of the coronavirus.
The North Korea scenario
A few weeks ago, North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un allegedly gave a thumbs-up for the execution of the first North Korean patient who was tested positive for the deadly new Coronavirus. But the nation's top officers are sticking to the official narrative that the global pandemic has not targeted North Korea.
Recently it was revealed that the Novel Coronavirus has killed 180 North Korean soldiers between January and February. As reported by a South Korean organization, Daily NK, the secretive country sent another 3,700 into quarantine, while another news outlet, Yonhap News Agency, said that around 10,000 North Korean residents have been sent to isolation over the COVID-19 fears. Reports also revealed that almost 4,000 people in North Korea has been released as they did not develop any symptoms of new Coronavirus.
Despite such claims, the North Korean government line hasn't changed and the secretive nation has restrained themselves to provide transparent information about the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. As reported by Newsweek, the North Korea government-controlled Rodong Sinmun newspaper, "The infectious disease did not flow into our country yet."
North Korea Coronavirus outbreak
However, the South Korean news media Daily NK attributed its information to a medical corp report from the North Korean military. Army hospitals were asked to provide data about the number of North Korean soldiers in their care who had died of high fevers caused by pneumonia, asthma, tuberculosis and colds as well as those were in isolation.
A source told Daily NK that officials have ordered military hospitals to sanitize areas where authorities kept the quarantined soldiers. In addition, the source revealed that soldiers with a compromised immune system or those who have a history of poor health issues are being closely monitored. The report claimed that the military unit leaders can also expect punishment if they don't follow proper protocol to contain the spread of the virus.
The new report source mentioned that officials are looking into increasing the soldiers' supply of required food and people "in charge of the military's logistics operations are stressing that soldiers are supplied at least 800 grams worth of food per day. They also are emphasizing that soldiers eat three meals of pureed soybean soup per day, instead of the usual one per day."
