North Korea raises alarm after confirming 1st COVID-19 case

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his country to raise its COVID-19 preventive measures to maximum levels as the country announced its first coronavirus infection more than two years into the pandemic

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea announced its first coronavirus infection more than two years into the pandemic Thursday as leader Kim Jong Un called for raising COVID-19 preventive measures to maximum levels.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said tests from an unspecified number of people with fevers in the capital Pyongyang confirmed they were infected with the omicron variant. North Korea had previously claimed a perfect record in keeping out COVID-19, a claim widely doubted by outside experts.

The country’s population of 26 million is believed to be mostly unvaccinated, after its government shunned vaccines offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because those have international monitoring requirements.

KCNA said Kim called a meeting of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party’s Politburo where members decided to raise its anti-virus measures. Kim during the meeting called for officials to stabilize transmissions and eliminate the infection source as fast as possible.