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North Korean state media reported Sunday that a person who crossed the border on the South Korean side was illegally infected with coronavirus and became the first confirmed infection in Pyongyang (the so-called “patient zero”).
However, a South Korean official said health authorities found no link between this person and confirmed cases of coronavirus.
“The person is not registered as a COVID-19 patient or as a person who has had contact with patients infected with the virus,” said Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health official quoted by Yonhap.
It is not yet known whether the person in South Korea has been tested for possible infection with the virus.
The South Korean army said the person was believed to have crossed the border by crossing it from the western island of Gwanghwa, and to avoid South Korean border guards, he passed through sewer pipes, Yonhap reported Monday.
The person fled south three years ago and illegally crossed a heavily guarded military demarcation line that separated the country on July 19, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported Sunday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called an emergency meeting and imposed a preventive quarantine in Kesong, KCNA reported.
The patient, whose findings are not entirely clear, was found in Kesong, near the border with South Korea, and “under strict quarantine,” the KCNA reported.
All persons with whom you have had contact will also be identified and all persons who have been in the city for the past five days will be inspected.
It is a “dangerous situation … that could lead to a fatal … disaster,” the news agency noted.
Kim Jong Un said at a political bureau meeting, according to the KCNA, that “a malicious virus can be said to have entered the country,” and officials on Friday took “preventive measures to completely block the city of Kesong.”
North Korea, which has nuclear weapons, closed its borders in late January when a coronavirus spread to neighboring China.
Pyongyang has imposed severe restrictions that have isolated thousands of people, but analysts say the country has barely been able to avoid infection.
The Pyongyang government has so far stated that no cases of coronavirus infection have been reported in the country.
Little is known about the true health situation of the separatist country.
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