North Korea, which reported its first coronavirus infections on May 12, declared last week that the COVID-19 outbreak had been brought under control, with caseloads declining.
However, the World Health Organization Director of Emergencies Michael Ryan questioned the claim.
On Wednesday, the WHO expressed regret for not having access to statistics on North Korea's COVID-19 outbreak, but concluded the problem was worsening, despite Pyongyang's claims of "progress"
"We assume that situation is getting worse, not better," Ryan told reporters, saying that the isolated country has been very secretive about its statistics.
"Right now we are not in a position to make an adequate risk assessment of the situation on the ground," he said, pointing out that "it is very, very difficult to provide a proper analysis to the world when we don't have access to the necessary data".
Meanwhile, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's COVID-19 lead, reported the country had 3.7 million suspected COVID patients, despite official statistics simply mentioning cases of "fever"
Last Friday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced that caseloads had dropped for the seventh consecutive day, with just over 100,000 new "fever" cases reported in 24 hours, down from a high of 390,000 daily cases in May.
On Friday, KCNA reported one more death, bringing the total number of deaths to 69, with the fatality rate remaining at 0.002%.
North Korea, which has one of the world's worst health systems, has not vaccinated any of its nearly 25 million people, having rejected WHO vaccines.
Ryan emphasized the significance of containing the outbreak in the underdeveloped country.
"We have offered assistance on multiple occasions. We have offered vaccines on three separate occasions. We continue to offer," he said.
He said the UN health agency was collaborating with China and South Korea to get help in, praising their "very positive attitude towards trying to deal with this collective problem"
The World Health Organization has frequently warned against allowing COVID-19 to spread unchecked because it is more likely to mutate and develop new, perhaps more harmful variants.
"We do not wish to see intense transmission of this disease in a mainly susceptible population, in a health system that has already weakened," Ryan said.
"This is not good for the people of (North Korea). This is not good for the region. This is not good for the world."
