On Wednesday, authorities in the North Korean capital Pyongyang ordered a five-day lockdown due to rising cases of an unspecified respiratory illness, citing a government notice.

When the entire world was in the grip of Corona virus, North Korea was one country that continued to claim that it reported no Corona virus cases for the longest time. But the Kim Jong Un-led country has now placed its capital Pyongyang in a five-day lockdown.

The Korean peninsula is currently in the grip of what weather forecasters have described as a Siberian cold snap, with temperatures in Pyongyang dropping as low as -22 degrees Celsius.

According to sources, the notice did not mention COVID-19, but said that residents in the city are required to stay in their homes through the end of Sunday and must submit to temperature checks multiple times each day.

COVID-19 in North Korea

North Korea acknowledged its first COVID-19 outbreak last year, but by August had declared victory over the virus.

The secretive country never confirmed how many people caught COVID, apparently because it lacks the means to conduct widespread testing. Instead, it reported daily numbers of patients with fever, a tally that rose to some 4.77 million, out of a population of about 25 million. But it has not reported such cases since July 29.

Experts suggested that North Korea’s largest city is likely dealing with the re-emergence of Covid.

“Covid is disappearing and reappearing depending on the temperature, not just in North Korea but around the world,” said Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

North Korea has one of the world’s worst healthcare systems, with poorly equipped hospitals, few intensive care units, and no Covid treatment drugs, experts say.

It is not believed to have vaccinated any of its 25 million people, although reports indicate it may have received some vaccines from China.

State media have continued to report on anti-pandemic measures to battle respiratory diseases, including the flu, but had yet to report on the lockdown order.

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