North Korea declares emergency in border town over first suspected COVID-19 case – By Sangmi Cha, Josh Smith (Reuters) / July 25 2020
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared an emergency and a lockdown in a border town after a person suspected of being infected with the novel coronavirus returned from South Korea after illegally crossing the border, state media said on Sunday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un holds an emergency enlarged meeting of Political Bureau of WPK Central Committee in this undated photo released on July 25, 2020 by North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. KCNA via REUTERS
If confirmed, it would be the first case officially acknowledged by North Korean authorities.
Kim convened an emergency politburo meeting in response to what he called a “critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country”, the North’s KCNA state news reported.
A person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border that divides the two Koreas to the town of Kaesong this month with symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, KCNA reported.
Continue to article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-northkorea/north-korea-declares-emergency-in-border-town-over-first-suspected-covid-19-case-idUSKCN24Q0TC
