North Korea announces first COVID-19 case

The first case of COVID-19 infection since the outbreak was reported in North Korea, state media on Thursday described it as a “serious national emergency”.

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The first case, which was discovered on Sunday in Pyongyang during tests on sick and fever-stricken people, was “related” to the highly circulating Omicron variant, the official KCNA news agency reported.

President Kim Jong Un has announced that he is setting up a “most urgent” virus control system after the Politburo crisis meeting.

“The goal is to remove the source as soon as possible,” said the leader quoted by the state agency KCNA. “He assured us because of the strong political consciousness of the population […]We will definitely overcome the emergency and succeed with the Emergency Quarantine project, ”the news agency said.

According to the KCNA, Kim Jong Un called for tougher border control and control measures, urging residents to “completely prevent the spread of the harmful virus by completely locking up their neighborhoods in all cities and counties across the country.”

All productive and commercial activities are carried out to ensure that each work unit is “isolated” to prevent the spread of the virus, he added.

Since the beginning of the epidemic in 2020 the country has completely closed its borders at the expense of its economy.

Pyongyang did not announce confirmed cases of COVID-19 until Thursday.

According to the World Health Organization, North Korea conducted 13,259 Kovid-19 tests in 2020, all of which returned negative.

Observers expect the country’s very weak health system to struggle to cope with a major epidemic.