The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday confirmed North Korean reports that a redefector who crossed into the DPRK last month has been tested for COVID-19, reiterating Pyongyang’s claims that the individual’s results were “inconclusive.”

In a statement to NK News, Representative to the DPRK Edwin Salvador said that Pyongyang informed WHO that the redefector was indeed suspected of having COVID-19 and that the case was detected in the city of Kaesong (as originally reported by North Korean state media).

“The person was tested for COVID-19, but test results were inconclusive,” Salvador said.

However, on Wednesday, a press officer for WHO told NK News that North Korea merely relayed this inconclusive result to one of the organization’s representatives. In other words, WHO was not directly involved in testing the redefector and was not able to independently confirm any test results, the press officer said.

WHO also requested that Pyongyang share more information about the suspected case, the press officer added.

North Korea has routinely claimed that the DPRK has zero COVID-19 infections. But after the first “suspected” case allegedly surfaced in Kaesong, health authorities in the North decided to conduct “extensive contact tracing” in the area to avoid any potential spread of the virus, according to Salvador.

“As many as 64 first contacts and 3,571 secondary contacts of the suspected case have been identified and quarantined in government facilities for a period of 40 days,” Salvador said.

Contacts of North Korean residents “who traveled outside Kaesong city” between July 19 to July 24 are being traced, according to WHO. The organization also confirmed that the city has been under lockdown since July 19 — when the redefector was reportedly found in Kaesong, according to DPRK state media.

North Korea reportedly shifted to a “maximum emergency system” in response to the redefector’s arrival, placing the city of Kaesong under lockdown and quarantining the individual as well as those who may have come into contact with him.

Between July 23 and July 30, North Korean authorities placed 3,737 people under quarantine, including the contacts of the suspected case, WHO told NK News on Wednesday. This takes the total number of people in quarantine to 4,380.

However, weekly updates suggest that the number of those under quarantine within the DPRK significantly increased since the redefector was first detected. Between July 9 to July 16, 110 people were quarantined, while 341 were quarantined from July 2 to July 9.

So far, there have been no officially-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the DPRK, despite the redefector’s “inconclusive” results. The most recent WHO update, reported on Wednesday, suggests that North Korea has quarantined and released 25,905 people — including 382 foreigners and 25,523 nationals — since Dec. 31, 2019.

Edited by Kelly Kasulis