More die as virus spreads

North Korea yesterday reported another 21 deaths and 174,440 more people with fever symptoms as the country scrambles to slow the spread of Covid-19 across its unvaccinated population. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the outbreak as a historically ‘‘huge disruption’’, and called for unity between the government and people to stabilise the situation as quickly as possible. Kim said he was donating some of his private medicine supplies to help the fight against the virus, and called for officials to take lessons from the successful pandemic responses of other nations. South Korea’s new conservative government has offered to send vaccines and other medical supplies to North Korea, but Seoul officials say the North has so far made no request for help.