North Korea has lifted movement restrictions imposed in the capital, Pyongyang, after first recognizing the COVID-19 epidemic a week ago, media reported, while an isolated country said the situation with the virus is now under control.
The North has been in a fierce battle against the Covid wave unprecedented since it imposed a state of emergency and lockdown across the country this month, raising concerns over vaccine shortages, medical supplies and food shortages.
Restrictions lifted
The COVID restrictions in North Korea have been lifted as of Sunday, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported, citing an unnamed source in Beijing. A spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Unification, which deals with inter-Korean issues, said that he could not confirm the news of the Japanese agency, while the North Korean media did not report anything about such a decision.
Kyodo’s news came shortly after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chaired a meeting of the Politburo to discuss revising anti-epidemic restrictions, saying the situation with his country’s first COVID epidemic was “improving”.
“The State Emergency Disaster Committee in the DPRK has buckled down to the dynamic organizational work for implementing the Party policy on establishing a state crisis-control system in an orderly way to thoroughly protect the people’s life and the land from natural disasters.,” the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.
100,710 people with symptoms
North Korea reported another 100,710 people showing symptoms of fever and one death on Sunday night, compared to 390,000 cases of fever two weeks ago, KCNA reported. The death toll rose to 70.
North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people who tested positive for coronavirus, apparently due to a lack of testing equipment. Experts said that the official number of confirmed cases of infection could be lower than the real one, and it is difficult to estimate the actual scope of the situation, reports Reuters .
