Alarm in North Korea as country records first ever Covid-19 case

North Korea reported its first-ever Covid-19 case on Thursday, more than two years into the global pandemic.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for raising COVID-19 preventive measures to maximum levels as the country while the state media declared it a 'severe national emergency incident'.

The Korean Central News Agency said Thursday tests from an unspecified number of people in the capital Pyongyang confirmed that they were infected with the Omicron variant.

The agency said Kim called a meeting of the ruling Korean Workers' Party's Politburo where the members decided to raise the anti-virus measures.

Kim during the meeting called for officials to stabilise transmissions and eliminate the infection source as fast as possible and also called for tighter border controls and lockdown measures, asking citizens to 'completely block the spread of the malicious virus by thoroughly blocking their areas in all cities and counties'.

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North Korea had previously claimed a perfect record in keeping out COVID-19 from its territory. It had closed its border to nearly all trade and visitors for two years that further shocked an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling US-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programme.

(With PTI inputs)