SEOUL – North Korea reported the first outbreak of the coronavirus on Thursday, declaring a “maximum emergency” and ordering all of its cities and provinces to shut down to contain the spread.
On Sunday, health officials tested people in an unidentified organization in Pyongyang, the capital, who showed symptoms such as fever and confirmed they were infected with a sub-variant, known as BA.2, of the Omicron variant of the virus, the official Korean Central News Agency said. the North . The news agency did not disclose how many people were infected.
The report marked the first time the secretive country has confirmed Covid-19 cases since the virus emerged in neighboring China more than two years ago.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un convened the political bureau of the ruling Workers’ Party on Thursday to discuss the crisis, the news agency said.
Mr Kim ordered “all cities and counties to shut themselves down thoroughly” to help prevent the virus from spreading, and factory workers and farmers continue to work but in isolation.
The news agency said Mr Kim had also called for national unity in a time of emergency, telling his people that “an enemy worse than the evil virus is unscientific fear and a lack of faith and will.”
Mr Kim urged his country to go ahead with the bold five-year plan for economic development that he proclaimed at a Workers’ Party congress last January. Under that plan, North Koreans have built residential areas in Pyongyang and greenhouse complexes in provinces.
Until Thursday, North Korea had publicly insisted that there were no cases of the virus in the country, although outside experts were skeptical, citing the country’s worn-out public health system and lack of extensive testing. North Korea has also rejected outside offers of pandemic-related humanitarian aid.
Officials in South Korea have hoped that humanitarian shipments, such as Covid-19 vaccines, could help restart the stalled dialogue between North Korea and the United States and allies.
It was unclear whether the outbreak would change the North’s stance on humanitarian aid.
Turkmenistan and several small island states, such as Tuvalu and Nauru, had also reported no cases of coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
North Korea had imposed some of the world’s strictest restrictions to contain the virus.
In 2020, it created a buffer zone along the border with China and issued a shoot-to-kill order to stop unauthorized border crossings, according to South Korean and US officials. Also that year, when a man from South Korea defected north, North Korea declared a national emergency for fear he might have brought the virus with him.