North Korea has accused the first outbreak of Covid-19 in a patient who has come into contact with a “foreign body” near the border with South Korea.
On Friday, the country released the results of an investigation that apparently blamed its neighbors for a wave of infections in an isolated country.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, the North Koreans were ordered to “carefully manage wind and other weather phenomena and balloon events between the borders and UFOs along the border.”
Officials did not directly name South Korea, but North Korean defectors and activists have been carrying leaflets and humanitarian aid for decades to fly balloons from the south across heavily fortified borders.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which runs the Global North and Global South, said the virus could not invade North Korea through leaflets sent across borders.
According to the KCNA, an 18-year-old soldier and a 5-year-old kindergarten student contacted unidentified materials in early April in the hills around barracks and residential areas in eastern Kumgan County. They later developed symptoms and tested positive for the coronavirus.
The KCNA stated that all other fever cases reported in the country before mid-April were due to other illnesses, but that did not go into detail.
“Scientifically, it is hard to believe North Korea’s claim, since it is very unlikely that the virus spreads through objects,” said Yang Mu-jin, a professor at North Korea Research University in Seoul.
How long does coronavirus persist on surfaces?
There is no easy answer to this question, as the virus survives longer on some surfaces than others.
According to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the virus can live 72 hours on plastic and stainless steel and 24 hours on cardboard.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasized that the virus is usually transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets rather than on surfaces.
North Korea admitted the first suspected case of coronavirus in July 2020, severely locking down the entire city and declaring a state of emergency. The suspected coronavirus patient was a cross-border person from South Korea.
Last month, the country said it was battling a mystery infection in parallel with its efforts to contain Covid-19.
Pyongyang reports daily the number of people affected by the fever and has not identified whether this is due to a shortage of Covid-19 test kits.
As of last Friday, more than 4,570 people had symptoms of a fever, and a total of 4.74 million people have been reported to have a fever since the end of April.
Source: Metro
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
