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Reuters
Reuters
Health
Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith

N.Korea reports first COVID-19 death as fever spreads 'explosively'

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters, as North Korea reports its first outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Pyongyang, North Korea, May 12, 2022, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Picture taken May 12, 2022. KCNA via REUTERS

At least one person confirmed to have COVID-19 has died in North Korea and hundreds of thousands have shown fever symptoms, state media said on Friday, offering hints at the potentially dire scale of country's first confirmed outbreak of the pandemic.

The data represents an unprecedented admission of an "explosive" outbreak in a country that had reported no previous confirmed cases since the pandemic began, and could mark a grave public health, economic and political crisis for the isolated regime.

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