North Korea leader uses military to supply medication amid COVID-19 wave

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un has mobilised the military to help stabilise the supply of medicines as the country battles a serious wave of coronavirus cases. More than a million people have now been recorded by Pyongyang as having a fever.

The country announced its first confirmed COVID-19 cases last week although experts believe the virus has likely been circulating for some time.

The coronavirus is spreading rapidly throughout a country that has no vaccines, no treatment and no built-up immunity to the virus.

At an emergency meeting on Monday, Kim reportedly said that medicines are not reaching pharmacies and people quickly enough and the consequences look terrible. Health experts say it is unlikely that the North has the antivirals it needs to treat its people.