The outbreak, which Kim Jong-un said had caused “major upheaval,” hits a country that lacks vaccines, antiviral drugs or the capacity to carry out mass testing.
According to KCNA, Kim Jong-un reported that “orders have not been carried out properly and medicines have not been supplied to pharmacies” on Sunday during an emergency meeting of the national politburo.
He indicated that the pharmacies did not comply with the order to operate for 24 hours.
State media reported that 50 people have died, 1,213,550 thousand people suffer from fever and at least 564,860 are under medical treatment.
North Korea has maintained a rigid coronavirus lockdown since the start of the pandemic, though experts have said that with the presence of the omicron variant in the region, it would be a matter of time before COVID-19 spreads across the country.