North Korea 'isolates and treats' 187,000 people for fever after reporting its first Covid-19 cases

North Korea has treated 187,000 people for fever after the country reported its first Covid cases. The state-run news agency KCNA said 'up to 187,800 people are being isolated and treated' and six people who were sick with fever had died, including one who tested positive for the Omicron variant. The report added: 'A fever whose cause couldn't be identified explosively spread nationwide from late April.' North Korea on Thursday confirmed its first-ever case of Covid-19, with state media calling it a 'severe national emergency incident' after more than two years of keeping the pandemic at bay. KCNA said samples taken from patients sick with fever in Pyongyang on Sunday were 'consistent with' the virus' highly transmissible Omicron variant. The country's top officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, held a crisis politburo meeting to discuss the outbreak and announced they would implement a 'maximum emergency' virus control system.