GENEVA: The World Health Organization warned on Monday that COVID-19 may spread rapidly in North Korea, where it said vaccination programmes had yet to begin. "With the country yet to initiate Covid-19 vaccination, there is risk that the virus may spread rapidly among the masses unless curtailed with immediate and appropriate measures," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO's regional director for South-East Asia, in a statement sent to journalists. In the same statement, the WHO said it had yet to receive information about the reported outbreak directly from local authorities.