North Korea COVID outbreak raises new variant concerns: WHO warns
PremiumCertainly, it's worrying if countries ... are not using the tools that are now available, said WHO
High levels of transmission of the coronavirus among unvaccinated people, such as in North Korea, create a higher risk of new variants, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday. This comes amidst North Korea's first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak. The situation is currently fuelling concerns over a major crisis due to a lack of vaccines and medical infrastructure.
"Certainly it's worrying if countries ... are not using the tools that are now available," said WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan in response to a question about the outbreak in North Korea.
"WHO has repeatedly said that where you have unchecked transmission, there is always a higher risk of new variants emerging," he said.
6 died, 269,510 people found with fevers
North Korea on Tuesday reported another large jump in illnesses believed to be COVID-19 and encouraged good health habits, as a mass outbreak spreads through its unvaccinated population and military officers were deployed to distribute medicine.
State media said the anti-virus headquarters reported another 269,510 people were found with fevers and six had died. That raises North Korea's deaths to 56 after more than 1.48 million people became ill with fever since late April. North Korea lacks test kits to confirm coronavirus infections in large numbers, and the report didn't say how many of the fever cases were COVID-19.
Deeply concerned: WHO chief
At the same press briefing, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said he was "deeply concerned" about the spreading virus among an unvaccinated population with many underlying conditions.
The UN health agency has previously said Pyongyang has yet to inform it officially of the outbreak in an apparent violation of the country's legal obligations under the WHO's International Health Regulations.
Asked about how the WHO would respond, Ryan said that the body was ready to help but had no power to interfere in a sovereign country.