DPRK leader calls for 'maximum emergency' measures following first COVID-19 case

PYONGYANG - Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, on Thursday urged the public to implement "maximum emergency" prevention measures after the first-ever COVID-19 case in over two years was confirmed, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

According to the report, Kim told an emergency politburo meeting that "the goal was to eliminate the root within the shortest period of time."

The meeting was convened after samples taken from patients sick with fever in Pyongyang on Sunday were "consistent with" the virus' highly transmissible Omicron variant, the report said.

At the meeting, Kim called for tighter border controls and lockdown measures, telling citizens "to completely block the spread of the malicious virus by thoroughly blocking their areas in all cities and counties across the country" and asking officials to prevent transmissions and eliminate the infection source as fast as possible.

The DPRK has taken strict measures to ward off the pandemic by closing its borders soon after the outbreak of the COVID-19 and had not confirmed a single case of the coronavirus until Thursday.