North Korea is quarantining thousands of people and sending food and other assistance to the southern city locked up over coronavirus fears, officials said, as the country ‘s reaction to the suspected case raises questions about its long-standing claim to be virus-free.
At the end of July, North Korea announced that it had implemented its “full emergency program” to prevent the spread of the virus after discovering a person with Covid-19 symptoms in Kaesong City, near the border with rival South Korea.
According to a report to the World Health Organization, North Korea quarantined 64 first contacts of the suspected Keasong case and 3,571 secondary contacts in state-run facilities for a period of 40 days, according to Dr. Edwin Salvador, WHO representative to North Korea. A major coronavirus outbreak that trigger a humanitarian disaster due to a broken public health system in North Korea and a lack of medical supplies.
