SEOUL: North Korea has ordered a five-day lockdown in the capital over “respiratory illness,” a report said Wednesday, in what appears to be the first citywide restrictions since the country declared victory over COVID-19 in August 2022.
Residents of Pyongyang have been ordered to stay in their homes from Wednesday to Sunday and must submit to multiple temperature checks each day, Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported, citing a government notice.
The notice did not mention COVID-19 but said that the illnesses currently spreading in the capital included the common cold, the report said.
The government order comes a day after NK News, citing sources in Pyongyang, reported that people in the city appeared to be stocking up on goods in anticipation of a lockdown.
It is unclear if other areas have imposed similar lockdowns and state media has not announced any new measures.
Experts suggested that North Korea’s largest city is likely dealing with the re-emergence of COVID-19.
“Covid is disappearing and reappearing depending on the temperature, not just in North Korea but around the world,” said Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
The Korean peninsula is currently in the grip of what weather forecasters have described as a Siberian cold snap, with temperatures in Pyongyang dropping as low as -22 degrees Celcius.
“It was quite premature for North Korea to celebrate its victory over the virus... with the drop in temperature, Covid has re-emerged,” Go told AFP.
“North Korea must have prepared for it to some extent, but it seems that the virus reappeared a little sooner than they thought.”
North Korea’s neighbor and key trading partner China recently abandoned its zero-Covid policies, and battled a wave of infections that overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.
North Korea has maintained a rigid blockade since the start of the pandemic, but does allow some trade with China.
In May last year, North Korea officially acknowledged its first COVID-19outbreak but declared victory over the virus just three months later, calling it a “miracle.”
Experts, including the World Health Organization, have long questioned Pyongyang’s Covid statistics and claims to have brought the outbreak under control.
North Korea has one of the world’s worst health care systems, with poorly equipped hospitals, few intensive care units and no COVID-19 treatment drugs, experts say.
It is not believed to have vaccinated any of its 25 million people, although reports indicate it may have received some vaccines from China.
North Korea locks down capital over ‘respiratory illness’: report
https://arab.news/j47bk
North Korea locks down capital over ‘respiratory illness’: report
- Experts suggested that North Korea’s largest city is likely dealing with the re-emergence of COVID-19
Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt
- Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years
DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.
Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024.
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”
He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
