N Korea says fighting unnamed gastrointestinal disease outbreak

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pictured sending medicines to the Haeju City Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) after the outbreak of an unnamed gastrointestinal disease [KCNA via Reuters]

North Korea has reported an outbreak of an unidentified gastrointestinal disease in the country’s southwest as it continues to battle a wave of COVID-19 that has further strained its already creaky health system.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said an unspecified number of people were suffering from an “acute enteric epidemic”. It did not identify the disease, but “enteric” refers to the gastrointestinal tract