North Korea says pandemic situation being controlled and is improving

The country has reported a total of 3.44 million infections since the end of April. PHOTO: AFP

SEOUL (BLOOMBERG) - The pandemic situation in North Korea is being controlled and is improving, state media Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday (May 29), citing a meeting overseen by leader Kim Jong Un.

Officials reported the latest number of daily "fever" cases rose by 980. More than 89,500 cases were recorded for the 24 hours ending May 28 at 6pm (5pm Singapore time) KCNA said.

The country has reported a total of 3.44 million infections since the end of April, with 94 per cent of them having recovered, according to the report.

Kim has declared a state of emergency and mobilised troops to try contain the spread of what the state calls a "malicious" epidemic.

The North Korean leader led a meeting of the Political Bureau of the country's powerful Workers' Party of Korea to assess the outbreak, KCNA reported, without saying when it took place.

"It made a positive evaluation of the pandemic situation being controlled and improved across the country," according to KCNA.

The report comes after China reported new Covid-19 cases in cities bordering North Korea.

The US has offered to provide Covid-19 vaccines to North Korea, but President Joe Biden said Pyongyang has not responded to the offer.

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