North Korea has accused the country of the first Covid-19 outbreak for patients who have come into contact with “aliens” near the South Korean border.
On Friday, the country announced the results of an investigation that clearly transferred responsibility for the wave of infection in an isolated country to its neighbors.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency, North Koreans have been ordered to “carefully deal with aliens coming from winds and other climatic phenomena and balloons in the borders and areas along the border.”
Authorities did not mention South Korea directly, but North Korean defectors and activists have been flying balloons from the south across highly fortified borders, carrying leaflets and humanitarian aid for decades. ..
The South Korean Ministry of Unification, which handles the inter-Korean summit, said there was no possibility that the virus would invade North Korea through a leaflet sent across the border.
According to KCNA, an 18-year-old soldier and a 5-year-old kindergarten teacher contacted unidentified materials “on the hills around the barracks and residential areas” in the eastern county of Mt. Kongo in early April. They later showed symptoms and tested positive for the coronavirus.
The KCNA stated that all other cases of fever reported in the country by mid-April were due to other illnesses, but did not elaborate.
“Scientifically speaking, it’s hard to believe North Korea’s claim, given that the virus is very unlikely to spread through objects,” said Yang Mu-jin, a professor at the North Korean Research University in Seoul. rice field.
How long can the coronavirus survive on the surface?
There is no easy answer to this question, as the virus lasts longer on some surfaces than on others.
According to a new study by the New England Journal of Medicine, the virus can last up to 72 hours on plastic and stainless steel and up to 24 hours on paperboard.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasizes that the virus generally spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets rather than on the surface.
North Korea declared a state of emergency in July 2020, admitting that the first suspected case of coronavirus had severely blocked the entire city. The suspected coronavirus patient was a cross-border person from South Korea.
Last month, the country said it was fighting a mysterious infection in parallel with its efforts to contain Covid-19.
Pyongyang has released a daily number of fever patients without identifying whether it is Covid-19 due to a shortage of test kits.
As of last Friday, 4,570 people were reported to have fever and a total of 4.74 million fever cases have been recorded since late April.
Details: North Korea claims outbreak of Covid “caused by a balloon from South Korea”
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