An official at the World Health Organization said the U.N. health agency assumes the coronavirus outbreak in North Korea is “getting worse, not better”.
WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan questioned the claim made by North Korea that its Covid outbreak had been brought under control.
“We assume that situation is getting worse, not better,” he told reporters, acknowledging though that the secretive totalitarian state had provided only very limited information.
“Right now we are not in a position to make an adequate risk assessment of the situation on the ground,” he said, pointing out that “it is very, very difficult to provide a proper analysis to the world when we don’t have access to the necessary data.”
On Wednesday Dr Mike Ryan appealed to North Korean authorities for more information about the Covid-19 outbreak there, saying “we have real issues in getting access to the raw data and to the actual situation on the ground.”
Ryan said WHO had offered technical assistance and supplies to North Korean officials multiple times, including offering Covid-19 vaccines on at least three separate occasions.
