After claiming to be virus-free for the majority of the pandemic, North Korea has swiftly reversed course in the grips of what it has admitted is a severe outbreak, reporting its first six official deaths due to the coronavirus. At least one of the six dead had been infected with the Omicron variant, state outlet Korea Central News Agency said. The isolated country, largely unvaccinated, has seen more than 350,000 people fall sick with a fever since late April, according to official numbers. The Associated Press reported that KCNA had attributed 18,000 of these new cases to Thursday alone—though it was unclear how many of these fever-symptom cases were conclusively COVID-19. The nationwide lockdown among the populace of 26 million was prompted after a case of the Omicron variant was reported detected in Pyongyang on May 8. Mass malnourishment and poor healthcare infrastructure may exacerbate what government leader Kim Jong Un called an “unexpected crisis,” according to state reports earlier on Thursday.