North Korean authorities have recently diagnosed university students at a school in Gangwon Province displaying symptoms similar to COVID-19, such as high fevers and respiratory distress, with “acute pneumonia,” Daily NK has learned.
According to a Daily NK source in North Korea last Thursday, students living in a dormitory of Wonsan University of Fisheries in Wonsan, Gangwon Province, were put into isolation in the middle of last month after they began suffering from high fevers.
The next day, local health officials were sent to the university to collect samples from the students.
When several students simultaneously began showing symptoms of COVID-19, the authorities completely shut down the entire school, according to the source.
National health officials sent to the area several days later said test results confirmed the students were suffering from “acute pneumonia” – not COVID-19 – and that this was “not an outbreak of the coronavirus.”
The officials warned people against spreading rumors related to COVID-19 and, moreover, ordered everyone to remain silent about what recently happened at the university.
With the authorities moving to stop the “spread of rumors,” local residents are saying they “cannot trust the test results.”
“People are asking how a group outbreak of ‘acute pneumonia’ could suddenly happen, and saying it must be COVID-19,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Some people were even complaining, asking why in the world they are diagnosing the coronavirus as acute pneumonia,” he continued, adding, “They say that, clearly, a growing number of people are being isolated and there are people dying with symptoms like high fever and respiratory distress, but [the authorities] just keep repeating that there’s no COVID-19 in the country. They say there’s no reason to trust them.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s weekly report on COVID-19, the number of people being tested for COVID-19 continues to rise in North Korea, but the country has yet to report a single confirmed case.
A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK, however, that “even if WHO officials come to Pyongyang, they can’t get involved in the COVID-19 testing process to confirm the situation.”
According to him, WHO officials “just receive notification of the results reported by the authorities.”
This means that the North Korean authorities could intentionally leave out or falsely report the results of COVID-19 tests, or the number of individuals put under isolation.
In fact, the WHO said a total of 32,011 people in North Korea had been put into isolation with symptoms suspected of being COVID-19 through Oct. 22. Daily NK has learned, however, that, on the basis of figures calculated by North Korean authorities, an accumulated total of more than 80,000 civilians have been put into isolation as of Nov. 1.
“Even while health authorities claim it isn’t COVID-19, they continue to keep Wonsan University of Fisheries under lockdown,” the first source said, adding, “Despite this, there’s been no explanation [by the authorities about the lockdown] at all.”
