Seoul, May 12, 2022 (AFP) – North Korea recognized the first covid-19 outbreak in the country since the start of the pandemic this Thursday (11, Wednesday, Brazil time), which was declared a “serious epidemic” by the official media. national emergency”.
The official KCNA news agency said samples collected from several sick patients with fever in Pyongyang on Sunday were “consistent” with the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus.
According to the agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said at an emergency meeting of his political cabinet that he would implement a “maximum emergency” virus control system with the aim of “eliminating the root as soon as possible”.
“Due to the high level of political awareness of the population, (…) he assured us that we will safely overcome the emergency and be successful with the emergency quarantine plan.”
Kim has ordered tighter border controls and containment measures, urging his citizens to “completely contain the spread of the malicious virus by carefully locking down his territory in all cities and counties nationwide,” KCNA reported.
All business and production activities will be organized in such a way that each unit is “isolated” to prevent contamination.
The poor nuclear-armed country imposed an overseas quarantine in early 2020 to protect itself from the epidemic that is causing economic problems and crippling trade.
Since the start of the pandemic, North Korea has not confirmed a single coronavirus case.
According to the World Health Organization, the country has conducted 13,259 covid-19 tests by the end of 2020, all of which have been negative.
Analysts say North Korea’s sick healthcare system will have a hard time dealing with a major coronavirus outbreak.
source: Noticias
