North Korea will reinstate a nationwide mask mandate this week, according to a new notice distributed in Pyongyang and seen by NK News. 

The notice states that masks are required from Oct. 1 to protect the population from “flu and infectious diseases that can occur during fall and winter,” but does not explicitly mention COVID-19.

In a speech on Sept. 8, Kim Jong Un “recommended” that masking resume in November after lifting most masking and social distancing mandates less than a monthearlier. He also boasted that the country completely exterminated the virus, a claim experts previously