North Korea lifts mask requirement
Kim Jong-un, who contracted the disease, this week declared North Korea’s “stunning victory” over Covid-19.
Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, revealed that the North Korean leader had himself been sick during the epidemic and had “suffered from high fevers”.
AFP
North Korea has ended mandatory mask-wearing in almost all places along with other restrictions, the state news agency said on Saturday, days following its leader Kim Jong Un declared the “smashing victory” over the Covid.
“The mask-wearing requirement has been lifted in all places except the front line areas and border towns and counties, with the whole country being (out of the epidemic),” reported the official KCNA news agency. Social distancing measures have also been lifted in all regions except the border territories, KCNA added.
The announcement came following Pyongyang this week accused Seoul of causing the country’s Covid-19 outbreak and threatened to “eradicate” South Korean authorities if necessary. The regime, however, recommends the wearing of masks for people with symptoms, and asks North Koreans to “stay alert” to any “abnormal thing” – seeming to refer to balloons sent from the South.
“Crime once morest humanity”
Despite a ban imposed in 2021, South Korean activists continue to send balloons containing leaflets and dollar bills, sparking protests from Pyongyang. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has accused Seoul of being the source of the epidemic in her country, the virus having entered, according to Pyongyang, through the material of propaganda sent from the South.
Denouncing a “crime once morest humanity”, the sister and adviser of Kim Jong-un threatened Seoul with “strong reprisals”. Kim Yo-jong also revealed that the North Korean leader had himself been ill during the epidemic and had “suffered from high fevers”. Experts, including the WHO, are skeptical of Pyongyang’s health statistics and its ostensible control of the outbreak.
The country’s hospitals are notoriously under-equipped, with few intensive care units and no treatment or vaccine, although South Korean specialist outlet NK News reported that the country received vaccine doses from China. North Korea has recorded nearly 4.8 million “cases of fever”, as the term is used to designate the number of infections, since the end of April, with only 74 deaths according to KCNA.
AFP
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