North Korea has reported 15 additional deaths from "fever", days after officially confirming its first-ever Covid-19 cases and ordering nationwide lockdowns.
The outbreak, which leader Kim Jong Un has said is causing "great upheaval", leaves a country with one of the world's worst healthcare systems on the edge of potential disaster.
North Korea has no Covid vaccines, antiviral treatment drugs or mass-testing capacity. While it has maintained a rigid coronavirus blockade since the pandemic's start, experts have said that massive Omicron outbreaks in neighbouring countries meant it was only a matter of time before Covid snuck in.
Despite activating a "maximum emergency quarantine system" to slow the disease's spread through its unvaccinated population, Pyongyang is now reporting large numbers of new cases daily.