Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - This week, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, said that COVID-19 was defeated. State media reported ...
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| Image: Reuters |
Kim led a COVID meeting on Wednesday and ordered the removal of the strictest anti-epidemic measures that were put in place in May. He also said that North Korea must keep a "steel-strong anti-epidemic barrier."
As part of the change from a "top-level" anti-epidemic system to a "normal" one, North Korea got rid of the rule that everyone had to wear a mask and other rules like limiting the hours that businesses and public buildings could be open, according to the official KCNA.
The North said that people with breathing problems should keep wearing masks and that people should keep an eye out for "abnormal things," which Pyongyang has said cause infections.
The North says that "alien things" near its border with the South are to blame for the COVID outbreak, and Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, has vowed "deadly retaliation" against those who caused the outbreak.
North Koreans who moved to the South or activists have been sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets and sometimes food, medicine, money, and other things into the North on balloons for decades.
North Korea has never said how many people caught COVID. This is likely because they don't have the resources to test a large number of people. Instead, they only say how many people have fever each day. The number went up to about 4.77 million, and North Korea hasn't seen any more since the end of last month.
Even though there is no known vaccine program, the North has made a statement about COVID. Instead, it says it relied on lockdowns, medicines made in Korea, and what Kim called the "advantageous Korean-style socialist system."
Experts on infectious diseases have questioned North Korea's claims of progress because there isn't enough independent data to back them up.
