North Korea announced that they confirmed over 18,000 new daily cases of fever patients nationwide and disclosed that six patients including one confirmed COVID-19-positive died on May 12. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said, “There was a weak spot in our disease control system,” and instructed the government to quickly respond to the situation.

On May 13, the Korea Central News Agency reported the news saying, “Comrade Kim Jong-un visited the National Emergency Disease Control Headquarters on May 12.” The North Korean leader inspected the command rooms at the Headquarters and received a report on the status of the Maximum Emergency Disease Control System executed the previous day and the status of transmission.

The North Korean state media conveyed, “A fever of unknown origin has explosively spread throughout the nation since late April, and in a short period of time, over 350,000 patients have been confirmed. Among them 162,200 have been completely cured.” The news agency further reported, “On May 12 alone, more than 18,000 people contracted the fever nationwide. Currently 187,800 patients are in quarantine and receiving treatment, and six (including one confirmed BA.2 patient) have died.” BA.2 is a stealth omicron variant which is 30-50% more transmissible than the existing omicron variant.

North Korea held an emergency meeting of the Political Bureau the previous day and for the first time acknowledged the existence of COVID-19 in the country.

Kim Jong-un said, “The fever has spread simultaneously, centered on the capital area, showing that there was a loophole in the disease control system that we had prepared.” He also said, “The most urgent matter is to aggressively lock down areas, put patients into quarantine and treat them responsibly to block the areas of contagion.” He then instructed his officials to “urgently and thoroughly carry out the decisions by the Political Bureau and quickly control the transmission of the infectious disease.”

At the same time, the North Korean leader expressed his determination for successful disease control and said, “Overturning the medical crisis before us as soon as possible is a task for our nation and the most crucial challenge our party faces.”