North Korea Reports First-Ever COVID-19 Case 2 Years Into Pandemic, Kim Jong-un Orders 'Serious Emergency'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared a "serious emergency" and ordered lockdowns across the country after confirming the first-ever Covid-19 case in the country on Thursday.

The country, for more than two years, has purportedly kept the pandemic at bay and has imposed a rigid COVID-19 blockade of its borders since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

Reuters reported, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), that the samples were taken from patients sick with a fever in Pyongyang, and it "coincided with Omicron BA.2 variant."

The report further pointed out that Kim called on all the cities and counties of the whole country to thoroughly lock down their areas. "The state epidemic prevention work shall be switched over to the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system," KCNA said.

This comes weeks after the country celebrated North Korea's founder's 110th birthday — Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un, who was born on April 15, 1912.

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