North Korean capital under 5-day lockdown due to ‘respiratory illness’: report
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 Wednesday, citing a government announcement.
The announcement did not mention COVID-19, but the city’s residents were told to stay in their homes until the end of Sunday and 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 stockpiling supplies in anticipation of tougher measures. It is not clear if other parts of the country have imposed new lockdowns.
North Korea acknowledged its first COVID-19 outbreak last year, but declared victory over the virus by August.
The secretive country has not confirmed how many people have contracted Covid because it lacks the means to conduct widespread testing.
Instead, it reported a daily toll of flu cases that rose to 4.77 million in a population of about 25 million. But no such cases have been reported since July 29.
State media continued to report on anti-pandemic measures to combat respiratory illnesses, including the flu, but have yet to report on the lockdown order.
On Tuesday, state news agency KCNA reported that the city of Kaesong, near the border with South Korea, has intensified public relations campaigns “so that all working people voluntarily adhere to anti-epidemic regulations in their work and life.”
