Kim Jong-un ordered full confinement for the first case – El Financiero

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the closure of all cities in… North Korea After what The state said for the first time Thursday that it has COVID-19 at its border.

“A serious condition arose due to the introduction of Omicron mutant virus is hidden in our areas“, the official Korean Central News Agency said. It added that at a party meeting on Thursday attended by Kim, the authorities raised the country’s national lockdown measures to the “extreme state of emergency.”

Kim orderedAll cities and provinces in the country to completely close their regions‘, in order to “completely prevent the transmission of malicious viruses,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.

As of Thursday, Kim’s regime denied having COVID cases, Claim questioned by experts in the United States, Japan and other countries. It has also refused to receive vaccines from the outside world, with planned shipments reportedly being frozen because North Korea was unwilling to follow the rules of Covax, a body backed by the World Health Organization.

in August 2020, North Korea He said he was pushing to develop a vaccine against the virus, but he hasn’t mentioned vaccines since then. Any outbreak of COVID-19 in North Korea, if it spreads widely, It can be devastating given that the country has an outdated healthcare system He may not have vaccines.

The outbreak may also help answer a burning question about the severity of the highly contagious omicron variant that currently surrounds the world. Scholars are divided over Whether the strain is less dangerous than the original pathogen that appeared in Wuhan By the end of 2019, or if vaccinations and immunity from previous infections have neutralized their effect.

North Korea’s strict coronavirus containment measures have exacerbated the regime’s economic woes, notably the border closing more than two years ago with China, its largest trading partner. In addition to international sanctions, The measures affected the North Korean economy.