Russia Offers North Korea COVID-19 Vaccines, Therapeutics, Test Systems - Embassy

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st June, 2022) Russia has offered North Korea to supply COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutic medicines and test systems, as well as health care personnel, to help the country deal with the spread of a fever believed to be COVID-19, but there has been no response yet, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang told Sputnik.

"Although the (North) Korean authorities did not appeal to the Russian side for assistance in overcoming the COVID-19 epidemic, we, on our own initiative, proposed to our colleagues to supply vaccines, medicines and test systems there, as well as send specialists," the embassy said.

The diplomatic mission added that it had not received any official response to the proposal yet.

"If our initiative interests them, we will try to carry out this work promptly and at the adequate level," the embassy said.

In May, Pyongyang announced the first wave of COVID-19 cases in the country, as several citizens tested positive for the Omicron BA.2 variant, and introduced an "emergency anti-epidemic system of the highest level." According to the state-run Korean Central news Agency, an "unfamiliar fever" has been spreading in the country since late April.�The fever is believed to be COVID-19, but the exact number of patients remains unknown. The number of suspected infections has reached over 3.7 million to date, including 70 deaths.