Kim Jong-un wears mask for 1st time after North Korea confirms Covid outbreak

A day after North Korea confirmed its 'first' Covid cases, leader Kim Jong-un was pictured wearing a mask at a meeting to discuss the outbreak in the country. North Korea claimed that it did not have a single Covid case in the last two years when the pandemic ravaged the entire world.

After the detection of the first cases, Kim Jong-un called for a thorough lockdown of cities and counties and said workplaces should be isolated by units to block the virus from spreading.

North Korea on Sunday reported 15 additional deaths from "fever" after the country recently announced its first-ever cases of Covid-19 and ordered nationwide lockdowns.

State media KCNA said a total of 42 people had died, with 820,620 cases and at least 324,550 under medical treatment.

Leader Kim Jong Un has said the outbreak has caused "great upheaval" in North Korea.

KCNA reported that "all provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other."

Despite activating its "maximum emergency quarantine system" to slow the spread of disease through its unvaccinated population, North Korea is now reporting large numbers of new cases daily.

North Korea confirmed Thursday that the highly contagious Omicron variant had been detected in the capital Pyongyang, with Kim ordering nationwide lockdowns.

It was the government's first official admission of Covid cases and marked the failure of a two-year coronavirus blockade maintained since the start of the pandemic.