The isolated country has been in a heated battle since declaring a state of emergency and imposing a nationwide lockdown earlier this month, fuelling concerns about lack of vaccines, medical supplies and food shortages.

Some 88,520 more people showed fever symptoms as of Friday evening, compared with nearly 400,000 about 10 days ago, the official KCNA news agency said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters.

The number of fever patients since April rose to 3.36 million among the 25 million population.

KCNA did not report any additional deaths. As of Friday, the death toll stood at 69.

North Korea has not confirmed the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus, apparently lacking in testing supplies.

Experts have said the announced figures could be under-reported, and that it is hard to assess the actual scale of the situation in the secretive nation.

State media said "all sectors and units" in the country are "maintaining the maximum alert and mobilised posture" to fight the virus, with authorities pushing for "strict, prompt and advanced" medical check-ups and tests.

"Multiple protective walls have been established for the lockdown and closure of the capital city, border front, coasts, seas and airspace to thoroughly check the inroads of new virus variants," KCNA said.

Pyongyang has not responded to offers from South Korea and the United States to help North Korea fight the pandemic, including with vaccines.

Australian Associated Press