Health

North Korea tightens anti-Covid measures in Pyongyang

Seoul, Dec 3 (efe-epa).- North Korea has tightened its measures to prevent COVID-19 infections in the capital Pyongyang, even though it still claims not to have recorded any cases.

“Preventive efforts to block the inflow of the vicious virus into Pyongyang have been under way in a more proactive manner,” North Korean state television said, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency on Thursday.

Everyone entering the North Korean capital through the western Mankyongdae region must undergo temperature checks, and products in warehouses must be disinfected, it said, while doctors in the south of the capital have been ordered to check residents for fever or respiratory symptoms associated with COVID-19, and the water supply facilities in Moranbong district have been sterilized.

On Wednesday, North Korean state media outlet KCNA said that “the emergency anti-epidemic units in the DPRK are now toughening the top-class emergency measures to thoroughly check the inroad of COVID-19.”

“The central emergency anti-epidemic organ has taken stringent steps to ensure that all the people strictly observe emergency anti-epidemic rules and orders,” it added.

Disinfection posts have been set up at border bridges and ports and those handing imports have been warned to be on high alert, it said, adding that shops and restaurants must be kept clean and customers must “strictly observe anti-epidemic rules and orders.”

North Korea has taken strict measures to prevent outbreaks in its territory, including sealing its borders shut at the beginning of the year, and claims to be free of the virus.

Despite not having reported any cases, the World Health Organization has indicated that there are currently about 700 people in quarantine due to potential infection.

South Korean intelligence services said last week that Pyongyang had recently imposed a blockade to prevent the entry of the virus in the current context of the resurgence of infections globally.

They also noted that the prolonged restrictions on the movement of people and goods that North Korea has been implementing for months have aggravated the country’s economic problems. EFE-EPA

asb-mra/tw

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