He was discovered and shot by Chinese border guards on his way.
The man was later sent to a hospital in Jilin, China, to be found with infection of Coronavirus.
Also known as "Covid19", a deadly disease originated from Wuhan (China), the Coronavirus has infected more than 7 million people in the world (as of June 11).
In USA alone, more than 2 million people were infected. In spite of this, the official Covid-related statistics in North Korea are still rows with straight 0, raising eyebrows of many outside the land.
Many people speculate that the situation is quite severe.
From the story of the defected man, it's a good guess that a big part of North Korean population has already been infected, with one random person having the virus. Meanwhile, internal sources report that among those isolated due to cough- and fever-related symptoms, around 60% have recovered and 35% died during isolation.
The reason behind the severeness may be attributed to poverty and lack of medical supplies. North Korea faces a severe shortage of medical personnel, medicine, device, infrastructure and solution for the virus new to human kind. According to "Daily NK", patients with severe illness were treated with medicine for normal cold and tuberculosis, which seemed to have no effects.
A UN report pointed out that as high as 43% of population (around 11 million people) in North Korea suffer from malnutrition. Moreover, there is also shortage of clean water supply. If the current situation persists, with no effective measures taken, the country may suffer from harsh conditions.
Schools in North Korea reopened in June 3rd.
All students can be seen wearing masks, albeit no "social distancing".
