8 hours ago
image source,Archyde.com
Kim Jong-un criticized the quarantine department as “lax and irresponsible”.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, discovered the first case of new coronavirus infection, which belongs to the Omicron BA.2 variant virus. It is unclear how many infected people there are.
Authorities have asked cities across the country to go into lockdown to stop the spread of Omicron, and will implement the highest level of emergency quarantine, the report said.
At a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim Jong-un criticized the “lax and irresponsible” quarantine department for its failure to respond “sensitively” to the spread of the new coronavirus.
Kim Jong-un also asked the party and government agencies to take comprehensive measures to avoid inconvenience to public life and other negative situations that may occur due to the strengthening of epidemic prevention and control measures.
image source,Getty Images
“Single-hearted public solidarity is the strongest guarantee to win this fight once morest the epidemic,” Kim Jong-un was quoted as saying by KCNA.
“NK News”, which specializes in news on the Korean peninsula, reported on Tuesday (May 10) that Pyongyang residents were suddenly ordered to stay at home on Tuesday, and sources said Pyongyang issued a blockade order.
North Korea has not reported any coronavirus cases for the past two years.
The country quickly closed its border with northeastern China following the outbreak in China in early 2020, and there were even reports that Pyongyang ordered border guards to fire on any trespassers who crossed the border.
With North Korea’s underdeveloped medical infrastructure and inability to treat large numbers of infected people, the coronavirus outbreak might have serious consequences for the country.
It is also unclear how many people in North Korea have been vaccinated once morest the new crown.
In September, North Korea rejected regarding 3 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine produced by China’s Sinovac, saying they should be sent to countries hardest hit by the outbreak, according to UNICEF.
Despite the decision to ramp up anti-virus measures, Kim Jong-un at a Politburo meeting ordered officials to keep pushing ahead with agricultural and industrial production, while strengthening the country’s defenses to avoid a national security vacuum.
For the past two years, North Korea has almost completely cut off trade ties with China, adding to the economic woes of a country under international sanctions.
Last year, Kim Jong-un admitted that North Korea was experiencing “unprecedented” difficulties in “almost all sectors” that had failed to complete the goals of the country’s five-year strategy for economic development.
In January this year, North Korea temporarily restarted rail freight between the border town of Sinuiju and Dandong, China, but last month, the railway from Dandong, China to Sinuiju, North Korea, was urgently cut off once more.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at the time that in view of the epidemic situation in Dandong, China and North Korea “decided to temporarily suspend the Dandong-Sinuiju port railway freight” following friendly consultations.
