Coronavirus prevention in North Korea, there are deep fears the county’s healthcare system would not cope if the disease took hold (Picture: EPA)

A chronic lack of medical supplies and poor health infrastructure means the coronavirus could have dire consequences for North Korea, experts have warned.

The impoverished nation’s land border with China makes it vulnerable to the virus – with the United States among others saying it was ready to support aid organisations to contain the spread of the deadly disease.

There are also fears the North lacks the means to carry out adequate testing.

Currently there are no official cases of the virus in North Korea but one of South Korea’s largest newspapers, Chosun Ilbo, has reported at least two suspected cases.




The South Korea-based Daily North Korea suggests as may as five people have died from the disease in the same city, Sinuiju.

North Korea was one of the first countries to block foreign tourists in response to the coronavirus outbreak, classified as Covid-19, and has since stepped up quarantines and other preventive measures to protect itself, as the global death toll passed 1,500.

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency shows people spraying disinfectant to combat the coronavirus in Pyongyang (Picture: KCNA)

Official state media described the fight against the illness as a matter of ‘national existence’ and all cross-border traffic has been shut down, foreign tourists banned, and screening at airports, harbours and land borders intensified.

A 2010 report by Amnesty International called ‘The crumbling state of healthcare in North Korea’ found the country’s healthcare system suffered from severe shortages of medicine and supplies. The problem was even worse in rural areas.

The state has mobilised 30,000 health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms.

US state department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said: ‘We strongly support and encourage the work of US and international aid and health organisations to counter and contain the spread of coronavirus in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.’

‘The United States is ready and prepared to expeditiously facilitate the approval of assistance from these organisations.’

There are still no official cases in North Korea but reports from the South suggest as many as five may have dies (Picture: KCNA)

All foreign visitors, and anybody suspected to have the virus, will be subjected to a month-long quarantine.

Dozens of South Korean officials have been withdrawn from an inter-Korean liaison office after the North insisted the building close until the epidemic was brought under control.

About 500 Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers are helping doctors near the Chinese border to assist in house-to-house screenings and to raise awareness of the virus in remote areas.

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The Korean Central News Agency said: ‘All the institutions and fields of the state and foreigners staying in the DPRK should obey it unconditionally.

‘The spread of the epidemic comes to be a serious problem with the possibility of international disaster.’

There have been 28 reported cases of the virus in South Korea.

Cho Hey-sil, spokeswoman of Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, said her government will consider public opinion before deciding whether to formally propose joint quarantine efforts with the North.

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