If confirmed, it would be the first officially recognized COVID-19 case in North Korea.
Seoul, South Korea:
North Korean authorities have imposed a lockdown on the border town of Kaesong after discovering what they called the country’s first suspected case of the novel coronavirus, state media reported on Sunday.
Chief Kim Jong Un called an emergency political bureau meeting on Saturday to implement a “maximum emergency system and issue a first-rate alert” to contain the virus, the official KCNA news agency said.
If confirmed, it would be the first officially recognized COVID-19 case in the North where the medical infrastructure is considered woefully inadequate to cope with an outbreak.
According to KCNA, a defector who left for the south three years ago returned on July 19 after “illegally crossing” the heavily fortified border that divides the countries.
But there have been no reports in the south of anyone leaving what is one of the world‘s safest borders, teeming with minefields and guard posts.
Pyongyang has previously insisted that no coronavirus cases have been seen in the North despite the disease sweeping the world and the country’s borders remain closed.
The patient was found in Kaesong city, which borders the south, and “was put under strict quarantine,” as would anyone who came into close contact, state media reported.
It was a “dangerous situation … which could lead to a deadly and destructive disaster,” the outlet added.
Kim reportedly said “the vicious virus may have entered the country,” and officials on Friday took “the preventive measure of completely blocking Kaesong City.”
The nuclear-armed North closed its borders in late January as the virus spread to neighboring China and imposed severe restrictions that isolated thousands of its residents, but analysts believe the North likely did not avoided contagion.
South Korea is currently registering around 40 to 60 cases per day.
Earlier this month, Kim warned of any “hasty” easing of anti-coronavirus measures, saying the country would keep its borders closed for the foreseeable future.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
