North Korea news: Flu epidemic ravages hermit state ahead of Winter Olympics
GETTY/REUTERS North Korea news: The hermit state has requested international help to contain an outbreak of flu
Around 200,000 people have already been infected with different strains of the virus and, because of its severity, Kim Jong-un’s regime is taking the rare step of asking for international help to contain the epidemic. Nearly half of the confirmed cases are in children aged 16 or under, and the virus has claimed the lives of at least four people - three of whom were children. On January 16, North Korean officials revealed there were more than 126,500 cases of influenza across the country, according to a report published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). But the charity estimates the number of infections has risen from the reported figure.
The IFRC says the majority of those sick with the virus have contracted the Influenza A/H1N1 strain, commonly known as swine flu. North Korea has accepted help from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the past - including some from its sworn enemy the United States - though the activities of aid workers is relatively limited. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already sent 5,000 tablets of anti-viral medication to the hermit state, and North Korean officials have requested a further 30,000 to protect healthcare workers. But the IFRC has now warned the outbreak may require “significant” humanitarian aid that could warrant extra support from the organisation’s disaster relief emergency fund.
GETTY South Korea has previously helped the North contain outbreaks of flu
The WHO says sub-zero temperatures across large parts of North Korea were responsible for an “upsurge” in flu cases. And because the virus has already spread across most of the country, including the capital Pyongyang, vaccines to immunise against the virus are likely to be near useless. The epidemic in the North comes as South Korea scrambles to contain its own outbreak of bird flu, ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics which begin on February 9. Officials in Seoul have ordered the slaughter of more than 760,000 chickens from farms near the capital in an attempt to prevent the avian influenza strain from spreading to people, South’s Korea JongAng Daily has reported.
GETTY South Korea is dealing with its own outbreak out bird flu just days before the Winter Olympics