North Korea has tested 1,117 people for COVID-19, an official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The update suggests that only 195 people have been tested since the last update in June.

An email from Edwin Salvador, a WHO representative to the DPRK, stated that 167 more North Koreans are currently under quarantine compared to June 19.

As of July 9, the DPRK “has tested 1,117 people for COVID-19. All tested negative,” Salvador stated, adding that North Korea continues to give the organization weekly updates on issues regarding the pandemic. “Currently 610 people, all nationals, are under quarantine.”

Salvador stated that those under quarantine are “laborers and loaders” working at the Nampho seaport and the China-North Korea border at Sinuiju and Dandong.

Meanwhile, 341 North Koreans were quarantined from July 2 to July 9, the email stated — more than twice the number of those quarantined between June 25 and July 2.

The WHO official claimed that the reason for this spike was “the increased volume of goods coming into the country” through the Nampho and Sinuiju-Dandong routes.

North Korea “has been quarantining laborers coming in contact with goods arriving into the country” as part of strengthened COVID-19 preventative measures, Salvador explained.

COVID-19 RESPONSE MEASURES REMAIN STRICT

North Korea’s Ministry of Public Health continues to use the “national protocol,” quarantining all suspected cases in the designated county or provincial hospitals.

State media is disseminating information on COVID-19 including loudspeaker announcements on the correct way to wear masks, Salvador added.

Masks are mandatory in public places and “no public gatherings are allowed,” he said, reiterating the WHO’s previous update.

North Korea still requires temperature checks and requires hand washing and sanitizer facilities “in all public places.”

The WHO official also confirmed NK News reporting in early July that schools in Pyongyang have recently closed again, following a previous delay to the start of the new semester.

“All educational institutions including pre-schools are now on extended summer break for the next 2 months,” Salvador said.

The country’s new measures follow the July 2 Politburo meeting on COVID-19, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticized officials for lax attitudes toward anti-epidemic work and urged a strengthened response to the pandemic.

DESPITE ZERO CONFIRMED CASES, BORDERS REMAIN CLOSED

As the world continues to grapple with the spread of the virus, Salvador stated that “WHO continues to advocate to the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) to increase surveillance in the provinces bordering China.”

The DPRK’s borders, which closed in late January, “continue to remain closed.”

Medical products “such as vaccines and COVID-19 related items are given high priority” for crossing the border and are disinfected and quarantined before heading to the country’s capital.

“Primers and probes for PCR machines to facilitate 1,000 tests, sent from WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, have arrived in DPRK” and will be in Pyongyang “next week,” Salvador said.

The WHO official, however, did not immediately respond to a request to clarify whether the equipment is a new batch of aid or if it is the same one he referred to in his June 30 email as “primers and probes to support 1,000 tests” that had reportedly “reached Pyongyang.”

The sustained border closure appears to be affecting humanitarian organizations in North Korea by restricting their access to “project implementation sites in the provinces,” U.N. communications official José Luis Díaz told NK News Tuesday.

UN and humanitarian organizations working with Pyongyang’s Ministry of Public Health have been working to “avoid a local outbreak and to ensure preparedness for a possibility of one” by transporting diagnostic testing kits, reagents and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), he added.

The entry of relief items is being hindered, however, due to the border lockdown, the U.N. official said.

NORTH KOREAN VACCINES?

Meanwhile, North Korea reported this weekend that the country’s researchers are developing a vaccine for COVID-19.

One medical institute has developed a “recombinant subunit vaccine,” or candidate vaccine, for the coronavirus, according to the website Mirae run by North Korea’s State Commission of Science and Technology.

The vaccine is “designed based on the gene sequence of the virus spike protein which binds the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2(ACE2)” and was developed by the country’s Institute of Medical Biology under the Academy of Medical Science.

“Safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine is verified through animal experiments,” the report stated, adding that clinical trials started in early July.

The Branch of Bioengineering of the State Academy of Sciences is also working on a candidate vaccine for COVID-19, Mirae reported.

The website further alleged that, due to how “there is no case of COVID-19 in DPRK” — a contested claim — the “clinical trial phase III is pending and on discussion.”