North Korea announces first case of Covid-19

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) On May 12, it was reported that North Korea had detected an infection with variant BA.2, a sub-line of the highly infectious variant of Omicron and commonly known as “stealth” Omicron.

This is the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in North Korea since the pandemic began. North Korean state media have called it a “grave emergency of the country” due to “a hole in the emergency isolation line that has been kept safe for the past two years and three months since February”. 2020″.

However, KCNA did not provide detailed information about the number of cases involved or the risk of infection.

People wear masks amid concerns about the Covid-19 epidemic in Pyongyang. Photo: Reuters

KCNA said Kim Jong-un chaired a meeting of the Workers’ Party to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak and pledged to “surmount” this outbreak. He asked to separate production units from domestic activities across the country.

In order to prevent the source of infection in the shortest time, Kim Jong-un announced that North Korea will implement a “maximum emergency” isolation control mechanism to contain the virus. Mr Kim ordered “all cities and districts across the country to go into lockdown” to “completely block the infection of the malicious virus”, according to Mr. KCNA.

KCNA quote the North Korean leader: “Leader Kim Jong-un reassures us that because of the high political awareness of the people, we will definitely overcome this emergency and will win the project of emergency cup”.

Kim Jong-un speaks at the meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea in September 2021, calling for measures to combat the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Reuters

Before that, page NK News specializes in providing information and analysis on North Korea once reported that on May 10, North Korea suddenly issued a blockade order in Pyongyang.

According to the radio CNNThe outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic could cause disaster for North Korea. The country’s healthcare infrastructure can hardly handle the treatment of a large number of patients with infectious diseases.

For the past two years, North Korea has claimed to have not detected any Covid-19 cases, but has taken relatively quick and tough measures to combat the pandemic, such as imposing strict border control measures since then. In early 2020. North Korea stepped up measures to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic in the northeastern border city of Hoeryong.

Pyongyang has repeatedly rejected shipments of Covid-19 vaccines donated from the global vaccine sharing mechanism COVAX. In September 2021, North Korea’s Ministry of Public Health rejected nearly 3 million doses of the vaccine, citing limited global vaccine supplies and rapidly increasing infections elsewhere.