North Korea has lifted movement restrictions imposed in the capital Pyongyang after its first admission of a COVID-19 outbreak weeks ago, media reported Monday, as the isolated country reports that the virus situation is now under control.
The North has been in a heated battle against an unprecedented COVID-19 wave since declaring a state of emergency and imposing a nationwide lockdown this month, fuelling concerns about a lack of vaccines, medical supplies and food shortages.
As of Sunday, the restrictions had been lifted, Japan's Kyodo news agency said, citing an unnamed source in Beijing.
A spokesperson for South Korea's Unification Ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said it could not confirm the report, as the North's state media had not announced the decision.
The Kyodo report came shortly after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a Politburo meeting to discuss revising anti-epidemic restrictions, assessing the situation over the country's first COVID-19 outbreak was "improving."
"The Political Bureau examined the issue of effectively and quickly coordinating and enforcing the anti-epidemic regulations and guidelines given the current stable anti-epidemic situation," the North's state media KCNA said on Sunday.
North Korea reported 100,710 more people showing fever symptoms and one additional death as of Sunday evening, compared with some 390,000 two weeks ago, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. So far 3.36 million patients have recovered, while 70 people lost their lives since late April.
North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus, apparently lacking in testing supplies. Experts have said the announced figures could be underreported, and that it is hard to assess the actual scale of the situation.
North Korea is among the few countries that did not report any cases since the pandemic began more than two years ago. Earlier this month, North Korea confirmed its first cases of COVID-19 in the country and imposed a nationwide lockdown.
North Korea’s prevention strategy relied on a complete border shutdown since January 2020. The World Health Organization has no records of any COVID-19 vaccinations in the country of 25 million, with Pyongyang having turned down repeated offers of vaccine supplies from the international community.