The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) expects procured coronavirus-related aid to arrive in North Korea in late April, the organization told NK News over the weekend.

The news follows a long delay procuring test kits and other medical supplies due to export controls by a number of countries, along with hurdles in delivery prompted by the DPRK’s effective closure of its borders this year.

“IFRC has now procured the requested aid items and is working on transporting them as quickly as possible into DPRK,” NGO spokesperson Ellie Van Baaren told NK News in an email on Saturday.

“At this stage we are working hard towards having the items arrive in DPRK by the end of April subject to 10 days quarantine in Sinuiju,” she added.

The IFRC won an exemption from international sanctions from the United Nations in late February, permitting it to send 10,000 COVID-19 test kits, masks, and gloves to the DPRK.

The group ran into procurement challenges in early April amid a global shortage of supplies, however, as well as “border closures and the restrictions on incoming goods to DPRK” hampering the plans.

But it now appears that the NGO succeeded in procuring the items in the past week and a half, though the precise date of their arrival remains unconfirmed.

Once delivered, the IFRC is to join a number of entities that have provided North Korea with COVID-19 test kits — alongside with Russia and China.

Only 709 people in the North had been tested for the virus as of April 2, an in-country official World Health Organization (WHO) said last week.

As of Monday, the DPRK has continued to insist that no COVID-19 infections have been detected in its territory, with the country’s public health minister O Chun Bok reiterating that claim at Sunday’s parliamentary session.

The expected delivery follows the news that other organizations such as UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), had transferred aid to the North in late March, also after a considerable delay.

Both organizations delivered items through the DPRK-China border by land via the Dandong-Sinuiju border, with the Dalian-Nampho shipping route also open to humanitarian aid.

The 10-day quarantine of all cargo crossing the border, noted by the IFRC spokesperson on Saturday, represents part of broader measures North Korea has taken since the early stage of the global COVID-19 outbreak.

Under the rules, cargo entering the DPRK through border and ports must be quarantined and isolated for 10 days before “transferring them to relevant units,” state media reported in March.

These measures have caused significant delays in bringing goods into the country, with the U.S.-based NGO Ignis community earlier in the month reporting the “quantity of shipments going through the border is backed up.”

Despite this, the IFRC told NK News on Saturday that DPRK authorities were working to speed up the entry of coronavirus-related aid into the country.

“We understand that COVID-19 response materials will be given priority in crossing the border,” Van Baaren said.

Edited by Oliver Hotham