North Korean authorities ordered a five-day complete lockdown in the capital, Pyongyang, due to a rise in infections with an unspecified respiratory disease, according to South Korea-based NK News, on Wednesday, citing a government notification.
The site, which monitors North Korean news, said the notice did not mention the coronavirus but made it clear that residents in the city should stay home until the end of Sunday and must undergo temperature checks more than once per day.
The website said Pyongyang residents appeared to be stockpiling goods in anticipation of tougher measures. But it is not clear whether other regions of North Korea have already imposed new lockdowns.
North Korea admitted its first outbreak of the Corona virus last year, but in August it claimed victory over the pandemic.
Pyongyang did not confirm the number of people infected with the virus, and this may be due to the lack of supplies for conducting examinations nationwide, but it disclosed the number of people suffering from a high temperature, which rose to 4.77 million people among its population of about 25 million.
North Korea has not reported such cases since July 29. State media continued to cover measures to combat respiratory diseases, including influenza, but they have not yet referred to the closure order.
On Tuesday, the Korean Central News Agency said that the city of Kaesong, near the border with South Korea, has intensified popular campaigns “so that all workers voluntarily abide by the anti-epidemic rules in their work and life.”