At least 6 persons were confirmed dead on Friday and over 3,50,000 people were infected with a fever that spread explosively in North Korea which had a day ago announced its first case of COVID-19.

The country announced an explosive COVID-19 outbreak that has killed six people and left over 3,50,000 people infected within a day, CNN reported citing state media.

One of the six people who died after showing fever symptoms contracted the omicron variant of COVID-19, KCNA reported.

A day after the country declared “severe national emergency” and called for a thorough lockdown of cities, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un visited the anti-virus command centre on Tuesday.

North Korea had claimed it had not recorded a single Covid case since it closed its borders at the start of the pandemic more than two years ago.

The country has not vaccinated any of its 25 million people, according to experts, and its “poorly resourced healthcare system” would also struggle to cope with a major outbreak.