North Korea locks down capital city over 'respiratory illness' -
report
[January 25, 2023]
SEOUL (Reuters) - Authorities in the North Korean capital
Pyongyang have ordered a five-day lockdown due to rising cases of an
unspecified respiratory illness, Seoul-based NK News reported on
Wednesday, citing a government notice.
The notice did not mentioned COVID-19, but said that residents in the
city are required to stay in their homes through the end of Sunday and
must submit to temperature checks multiple times each day, according to
NK News, which monitors North Korea.
On Tuesday, the website reported that Pyongyang residents were appeared
to be stocking up on goods in anticipation of stricter measures. It is
unclear if other areas of the country have imposed new lockdowns.
North Korea acknowledged its first COVID-19 outbreak last year, but by
August had declared victory over the virus.
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The secretive country never
confirmed how many people caught COVID, apparently because it lacks
the means to conduct widespread testing.
Instead, it reported daily numbers of patients with fever, a tally
that rose to some 4.77 million, out of a population of about 25
million. But it has not reported such cases since July 29.
State media have continued to report on anti-pandemic measures to
battle respiratory diseases, including the flu, but had yet to
report on the lockdown order.
On Tuesday, state news agency KCNA said the city of Kaesong, near
the border with South Korea, had intensified public communication
campaigns "so that all the working people observe anti-epidemic
regulations voluntarily in their work and life."
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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