North Korea, which has largely kept its borders shuttered over the pandemic, Thursday confirmed its first detection of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the country. According to the official Korea Central News Agency, samples were taken from a group of people in the capital, Pyongyang, on Sunday. The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 is unknown. It marks the first time North Korea has acknowledged a case of COVID-19 since it closed its borders in February 2020 and instituted its own quarantine measures amid the global pandemic spread. The United Nations’ COVAX program confirmed earlier this month that it had reallocated its vaccines earmarked for North Korea to other countries, after Pyongyang failed to accept the supply for months.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 12, 2022 02:39 UTC