As per the latest news shared by a World Health Organization official to Reuters, the man in North Korea who had reportedly been suspected for being the country’s first corona virus case has derived his results as inconclusive. The authorities have so far quarantined more than 3635 primary and secondary contacts the official said.
It was on July 26 when North Korea had declared a state of emergency and had locked down the border city of Kaesong after a person who had reportedly defected to South Korea three years ago had returned across the fortified border with symptoms that the state media claimed were similar to COVID-19.
Then, the state media was unclear of the fact that whether the man had been tested or not and had stated that uncertain results were derived after several medical check-ups. But leader Kim Jong Un had declared that the vicious virus could have entered the country.
If the case was confirmed then it would have been the first officially acknowledged case by the North Korean authorities but since then the state media have continued to say that there have been no cases so far.
According to the statement released by Dr. Edwin Salvador, the WHO representative for North Korea, the person was tested for COVID-19 but the test results were inconclusive he said in the comments that were emailed to Reuters on Wednesday.
Salvador added that as many as 64 first contacts along with 3571 secondary contacts of the suspected case have been identified and have already been quarantined under the government facilities for 40 days.
He further said that Kaesong remains under lockdown and the household doctors are continuing to conduct surveillance in the city. He also confirmed that even though North Korea did not have any confirmed cases but still the government had imposed a widespread lockdown and also conducted contract tracing.
It was on Wednesday when North Korea’s ruling party newspaper; Rodong Sinmun called for all citizens to participate in anti-epidemic measures and warned that any breach of rules could lead to critical consequences.
As per the details shared by the state media KCNA on Thursday, Kim Jong Un has reportedly decided to supply special food and funds to the Kaesong city residents at a meeting of the executive policy council of the country’s ruling Worker’s Party.
In a separate dispatch, KCNA said that around 30 different types of some 550000 aid items have already been sent to the city since the state of emergency has been declared.
Although some outside experts and other U.S. officials have cast doubts on North Korea’s claim to have no corona virus cases so far, as of now no cases have been independently confirmed.
