In North Korea, the corona situation is apparently coming to a head dramatically.

Ruler Kim Jong-un ordered the military to "immediately stabilize" the supply of medicines in the capital Pyongyang, the state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.

The isolated country meanwhile reported eight more "fever" deaths and 392,920 new suspected corona cases with fever symptoms.

North Korea announced on Thursday that the highly contagious omicron variant had been discovered in Pyongyang.

Kim said the outbreak had caused "major unrest" in the country.

A “total lockdown” has been ordered for all provinces and cities, according to KCNA.

Despite drastic measures, North Korea reports high numbers of new cases in the unvaccinated population every day.

How many of the “fever” deaths are due to the corona virus has so far remained unclear.

According to North Korea expert Cheong Seong-chang of South Korea's Sejong Institute, "it is not an exaggeration to consider all these cases of 'fever' as Covid-19 illnesses" given North Korea's lack of testing.

North Korea had long claimed to be corona-free.

The information was doubted abroad.

In early 2020, the country sealed off its borders to protect itself from the pandemic.

According to experts, North Korea has one of the worst health systems in the world.