North Korea Officially Confirms First Covid Case Since Outbreak, Declares 'Severe National Emergency'

With North Korea never admitting to coronavirus infection, officials in South Korea and the US have raised suspicion, especially after Omicron cases were reported in South Korea and China

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un

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New Delhi: Since the pandemic, North Korea for the first time officially reported a Covid-19 case on Thursday triggered by a sub-variant of the highly transmissible Omicron virus. The nuclear-armed country has declared a national lockdown, with state media reporting the Omicron virus being detected in the city of Pyongyang, according to news agency Reuters.

It is interesting to note that the nuclear-armed country never admitted to a case of Covid-19 prior to this as the government imposed stringent shutdown of its borders since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

With North Korea never admitting to single coronavirus infection in the country, officials in South Korea and the United States have raised suspicion, especially after cases of the Omicron variant were reported in neighbouring South Korea and China.

"There has been the biggest emergency incident in the country, with a hole in our emergency quarantine front, that has been kept safely over the past two years and three months since February 2020," reported the official KCNA news agency.

The report that didn’t reveal much information on the case numbers or possible sources of infection only stated that residents in Pyongyang contracted the virus. The samples of the infected people were collected on May 8, it added.

The report is said to be published amid the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chairing a Workers' Party meeting to reviewe the situation over the first outbreak of the coronavirus.

What’s the state of Covid-19 in North Korea?

The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered "strict lock down" in all cities and counties to contain the spread of the coronavirus and said emergency reserve medical supplies would be mobilised, according to KCNA.

Talking at the Workers' Party meeting, Kim Jong Un noted that the latest emergency quarantine system is aimed at controlling and managing the spread of the coronavirus and quickly heal infected people to eliminate the source of transmission in the shortest period.

In the current state, North Korea didn’t accept shipments of vaccine from the COVAX global COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme and the Sinovac Biotech vaccine from China, as per the Reuters report.

Going by the report of South Korea-based website cited in Reuters, residents this week have been told to return home and remain indoors because of a "national problem" without offering details.

Earlier on Thursday, Chinese state television reported that North Korea asked its people to stay at home since May 11 as many of them have "suspected flu symptoms", without referring to Covid-19.