Coronavirus: North Korea rolls back lockdown, says virus flare-up ‘controlled’ thanks to Kim Jong-un’s policies
- North Korea has not allowed in outside workers to help with the pandemic or verify numbers for the public health crisis that could overwhelm its medical system
- The state’s official media said daily cases have fallen by about 75 per cent from a peak of 392,920 two weeks ago
North Korea removed virus lockdown measures that had been in place for more than two weeks in its capital, news reports indicated, after saying policies by leader Kim Jong-un have controlled the country’s first Covid outbreak.
Kim’s regime partially lifted the lockdown in Pyongyang and eased curbs in “stabilised areas,” Yonhap News Agency of South Korea on Monday reported diplomatic sources as saying. Residents in Pyongyang were allowed to leave their homes for the first time since May 12 and business were slowly opening, NK News on Sunday reported sources in the isolated state as saying.
North Korea has not allowed in outside workers to help with the pandemic or verify any of its numbers for the public health crisis that could have overwhelmed its antiquated medical system – and posed a threat to Kim’s regime. It and Eritrea are the only two countries that have not administered vaccines, putting their people at increased risk.
Kim rolled back lockdown measures hours after leading a Politburo meeting on Sunday, NK News said. The state’s official media said the same day “the pandemic situation is being controlled and improved across the country,” with another report saying daily cases have fallen by about 75 per cent from a peak of 392,920 two weeks ago.
Residents are still required to undergo “temperature checks, use hand sanitiser and follow the instructions of pandemic response workers,” NK News added.
North Korea has not called the hundreds of thousands of fever cases “Covid” likely because it does not have enough testing kits to confirm that the cases were caused by the coronavirus.
Kim mobilised troops to try contain the spread of what the state calls a “malicious” epidemic and his propaganda apparatus kicked into high gear in a campaign to stop the spread. State media has tried to portray as Kim pushing ahead with pandemic control efforts and pinned the blame for shortcomings on cadres who have not followed his guidance.