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| - North Korea on Sunday reported a suspected case of COVID-19, according to state media, acknowledging for the first time that the coronavirus may have crossed into the country. Official news agency KCNA described the case as "a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus returned on July 19 after illegally crossing the demarcation line." Pyongyang previously said it had not had a single case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus that has swept the globe, and the country's borders remain closed. KCNA described the suspected virus victim as "a runaway who went to the south three years ago," and was found in Kaesong City, on the border with South Korea. The unnamed person "was put under strict quarantine as a primary step and all the persons ... who contacted that person and those who have been to the city in the last five days are being thoroughly investigated" and quarantined, KCNA said. To address the "dangerous situation ... that may lead to a deadly and destructive disaster," North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting on Saturday to adopt a "maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert" to contain the epidemic, KCNA said. Despite strict preventative measures "the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country," Kim said, according to KCNA. Kim said the government took the "preemptive measure of totally blocking Kaesong City" on July 24. ch/dw
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