North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un held a huge North Korean military parade April 25, 2022 to showcase his military and nuclear might. That event has been identified as a Covid-19 super-spreader event. More than 20,000 soldiers marked in the parade and were part of the a weapons display. Soldiers who marched in the event tested positive for Covid-19, Radio Free Asia reported.
The country has now topped 1.2 million cases of “fever,” state media KCNA reported May 16, 2022.
State media-released photos showed huge crowds at Pyongyang‘s Kim Il Sung Square unmasked and not socially distanced.
At the time, North Korea still had yet to report a single Covid-19 case since the pandemic began, although experts have expressed doubt over the accuracy of its Covid reporting.
After reporting its first-ever Covid case on May 12, 2022 the country is now experiencing a massive outbreak of a “fever” with at least 1.2 million cases, state media KCNA said on May 16, 2022. The country has not clarified how many of the “fever” cases tested positive for COVID-19. At least 50 people have died and more than half a million people are receiving medical treatment, the outlet added.
The current outbreak is “closely linked to the April 25, parade,” said Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.