North Korea COVID outbreak is 'worrying' for new variants -WHO

A senior World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that high levels of transmission of the coronavirus among unvaccinated people, such as in North Korea, creates a higher risk of new variants.

"Certainly it's worrying if countries ... are not using the tools that are now available," said WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan in response to a question about the outbreak in North Korea.

"WHO has repeatedly said that where you have unchecked transmission, there is always a higher risk of new variants emerging," he said.