Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
North Korea's Official 0.002% Covid Death Rate Met With Disbelief
According to North Korea, its fight against COVID-19 has been impressive: About 3.3 million people have been reported sick with fevers, but only 69 have died. If all are coronavirus cases, that鈥檚 a fatality rate of 0.002%, something no other country, including the world鈥檚 richest, has achieved against a disease that has killed more than 6 million people. (Kim, 5/27)
Covid-stricken North Korea has finally begun its vaccination program 鈥 calling the COVID-19 jabs an "immortal potion of love" from their leader Kim Jong Un, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported. However, the vaccines are so far reserved only for soldiers working on national construction projects, according to the US-funded non-profit media outlet.聽 (Yip, 5/27)
In other global developments 鈥
The World Health Assembly on Thursday voted in favor of a resolution that condemned Russian attacks on the health-care system in Ukraine before rejecting a parallel proposal presented by Moscow that Kyiv鈥檚 representative to the United Nations in Geneva had called a 鈥渟ubterfuge鈥 that presented a 鈥渢wisted alternative reality鈥 of the conflict. (Taylor, 5/26)
A Tokyo court began hearings Thursday in a lawsuit seeking nearly $5 million in damages for six people who were children in Fukushima at the time of its 2011 nuclear power plant disaster and later developed thyroid cancer. The plaintiffs are suing the operator of the nuclear plant, saying radiation released in the accident caused their illnesses. It is the first group lawsuit filed by Fukushima residents over health problems allegedly linked to the disaster, their lawyers say. (Yamaguchi, 5/26)
Chile鈥檚 president publicly apologized to a woman who was sterilized without her consent at a public hospital two decades ago because she was HIV-positive, ending a years-long legal process that included taking her case to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights in Washington. (Politi, 5/26)
The Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that a retrospective H3N8 avian flu case was confirmed in Changsha City in a 5-year-old boy, according to a report translated and posted today on Avian Flu Diary (AFD), an infectious disease news blog. This case marks the world's second known infection from this particular avian flu strain, with the first case confirmed 1 month ago. (5/26)
