North Korea declares state of emergency due to a suspected COVID-19 case

North Korea declared a state of emergency on Sunday after one person in the country was suspected of being  positive for COVID-19. 

On Sunday, local time, state news agency KCNA reported North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting after a person who defected to South Korea three years ago was “suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus.” The person is reported have returned to the North Korean border city of Kaesong, Reuters reported.

Kim declared a state of emergency and imposed a lockdown in Kaesong, reportedly calling it a “critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country.”

“An emergency event happened in Kaesong City where a runaway who went to the south three years ago, a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus returned on July 19 after illegally crossing the demarcation line,” KCNA said.

It’s unclear if the person has been tested for COVID-19 yet. According to KCNA an “uncertain result was made from several medical check-ups of the secretion of that person’s upper respiratory organ and blood.” 

North Korea has imposed strict border restrictions since the start of the pandemic. Residents of the country were under a mass quarantine order that was recently eased.

North Korea claims there are no confirmed COVID-19 cases within its borders.