Authorities in the North Korean capital Pyongyang have ordered a five-day lockdown due to rising cases of an unspecified respiratory illness, Seoul-based NK News reported, citing a government notice.
The notice on Wednesday did not mention Covid-19, but said that
residents in the city are required to stay in their homes
through the end of Sunday and must submit to temperature checks
multiple times each day, according to NK News, which monitors
North Korea.
On Tuesday, the website reported that Pyongyang residents
were appeared to be stocking up on goods in anticipation of
stricter measures.
It is unclear if other areas of the country
have imposed new lockdowns.
North Korea acknowledged its first Covid-19 outbreak last
year, but by August, it had declared victory over the virus.
Anti-pandemic measures
The secretive country never confirmed how many people caught
Covid, apparently because it lacks the means to conduct
widespread testing.
Instead, it reported daily numbers of patients with fever, a
tally that rose to some 4.77 million, out of a population of
about 25 million. But it has not reported such cases since July
29.
State media have continued to report on anti-pandemic
measures to battle respiratory diseases, including the flu, but
had yet to report on the lockdown order.
On Tuesday, state news agency KCNA said the city of Kaesong,
near the border with South Korea, had intensified public
communication campaigns “so that all the working people observe
anti-epidemic regulations voluntarily in their work and life.”
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