North Korea's media say leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the military's medical department to stabilize the nation's supply of medicine as it confronts an explosive number of cases with fever symptoms.

North Korea officially confirmed its first coronavirus cases last week.

The ruling Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported Monday that Kim issued the special order at an emergency meeting of the party political bureau.

The newspaper says Kim was told in a briefing that more than 392,900 new cases of fever symptoms had been confirmed in the 24 hours leading up to Sunday at 6 p.m., and eight people had died.

North Korea's total number of cases since late April has exceeded 1,213,500, with 50 deaths. The country's population is about 25.8 million.

Kim was quoted as saying he had instructed all pharmacies to shift to a 24-hour operation, but medicine still didn't reach people in a timely manner.

The paper says Kim criticized the Cabinet and health officials for the delay, and reprimanded the top prosecutor for not overseeing the situation appropriately.