The North Korean Ministry of Health said it has not had an acute respiratory infection due to a new strain of the corona virus, despite a widespread pandemic in China.

North Korea suspended most of its connecting flights with China and Russia, forced mandatory isolation from any foreign nationals, and ended international travel programs. The above measures are aimed at preventing acute respiratory infections caused by new strains of corona virus (nCoV) from spreading to the country.

In a speech today broadcast on KRT, the Ministry of Health of Song In-bom emphasized that North Korea has not detected any cases of the disease, which is not a reason to neglect prevention efforts.

"Although there is no case of nCoV infection in North Korea, we should not breathe a sigh of relief, we need to raise public awareness and work together to prevent the disease," he said.

The outbreak of acute pneumonia caused by nCoV began in Wuhan in December 2019, then spread to all of China's 31 provinces. As of February 2, 304 Chinese people were killed and 14,401 people were positive for nCoV. Outside of China, 24 countries and territories reported nCoV-infected patients.