North Korea Lifts Mask Mandate after Covid 'Victory'

People wearing protective face masks commute amid concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pyongyang, North Korea March 30, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
People wearing protective face masks commute amid concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pyongyang, North Korea March 30, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
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North Korea Lifts Mask Mandate after Covid 'Victory'

People wearing protective face masks commute amid concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pyongyang, North Korea March 30, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
People wearing protective face masks commute amid concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pyongyang, North Korea March 30, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

North Korea has lifted a mask mandate and eased other virus restrictions, state media said Saturday, days after leader Kim Jong Un declared "victory" over Covid-19.

The announcement comes after Pyongyang earlier this week blamed Seoul for causing the Covid-19 outbreak in the North and threatened to "wipe out" the South Korean authorities, if necessary.

Virus restrictions were eased as "the public health crisis created in the country was completely defused and its whole territory was turned into a clean one free from the malignant virus in the shortest period," Pyongyang's official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"The step for obligatory mask-wearing was lifted in all areas except frontline areas and borderline cities and counties, given that the whole country was turned into an epidemic-free zone," KCNA said.

North Korea declared a "shining victory" over Covid earlier this week just months after announcing its first cases in May.

Social distancing and other anti-virus measures were also lifted except for border regions, AFP reported.

But people with symptoms of respiratory disease were recommended to wear masks and North Koreans were urged to "remain vigilant" against "abnormal things" -- apparently referring to propaganda leaflets from the South.

Despite a ban that took effect in 2021, South Korean activists for years have flown balloons carrying propaganda leaflets and dollars over the border, which the North has long protested against.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong Un, on Wednesday blamed these activities for the North's Covid outbreak, vowing "deadly" retaliation against Seoul.

Kim Yo Jong also revealed that the top leader himself had fallen ill during the outbreak and suffered from a "high fever".

North Korea has recorded nearly 4.8 million "fever" cases -- while only identifying a fraction of those as Covid -- since late April, with just 74 deaths, according to KCNA.

Experts, including the World Health Organization, have long questioned Pyongyang's Covid statistics and claims to have brought the outbreak under control.

North Korea has one of the world's worst healthcare systems, with poorly equipped hospitals and few intensive care units, experts say.

It is not believed to have vaccinated any of its 26 million population, although it may have received some vaccines from China, Seoul-based specialist site NK News has reported.



China Defends COVID-19 Data-sharing as WHO Seeks More Access

FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa
FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa
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China Defends COVID-19 Data-sharing as WHO Seeks More Access

FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa
FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa

China has shared the most COVID-19 data and research results in the international community, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after the World Health Organization repeated its call for more information and access.
China is also the only country that organized experts to share traceability progress with the WHO on many occasions, Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, told a regular news conference.
In a statement on Monday, the WHO again asked China to share data and access to assist its efforts to understand the origins of COVID-19, the first cases of which were detected in central China five years ago.
According to the WHO, over 760 million COVID-19 cases and 6.9 million deaths have been recorded worldwide. In mid-2023, it declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency but said the disease should be a permanent reminder of the potential for new viruses to emerge with devastating consequences.
Data from the early days of the pandemic was uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database in early 2023, a few months after China dismantled all its COVID-19 restrictions and reopened its borders to the rest of the world, Reuters reported.
The data showed DNA from multiple animal species - including raccoon dogs - was present in environmental samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, suggesting that they were "the most likely conduits" of the disease, according to a team of international researchers.
In 2021, a WHO-led team spent weeks in and around Wuhan - where the first cases were detected - and said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal but further research was needed.
China had said no more visits were necessary and that the search of early cases should be conducted in other countries.
"On the issue of COVID-19 traceability, China has shared the most data and research results and made the greatest contribution to global traceability research," Mao said.