North Korea’s Yanggang Province recently ordered people with flu symptoms to self-isolate for three days, Daily NK has learned.
This development comes after the authorities locked down a region in Yanggang Province following an outbreak of fever cases, only to lift the lockdown a day later when it turned out that they were just flu cases.
A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Friday that the emergency anti-epidemic command of Yanggang Province recently issued an order for patients with flu-like symptoms to self-isolate for three days.
“According to the order, if you catch a cold or have similar symptoms, you must isolate yourself at home for three days,” he said.
According to the source, the provincial emergency anti-epidemic command recently issued an emergency lockdown for a particular region in Yanggang Province where cases of fever emerged because flu cases were mistakenly diagnosed as COVID-19. It then ordered a three-day isolation measure to stop the flu and block its spread.
Prior to this, North Korea reported through the Rodong Sinmun that the authorities locked down a region in Yanggang Province on Aug. 25 after four cases of fever appeared, only to lift the order the next day after all four cases turned out to be the flu.
In particular, the provincial emergency anti-epidemic command reportedly underscored that the infected must isolate themselves because the flu is an acute viral respiratory disease that spreads through the air from the coughs and sneezes of the infected, as well as through infected objects.
That is to say, just a cough or a sneeze is good enough to get one three days of self-isolation at home as a “case of the flu.”
However, North Koreans are reportedly unhappy with the order, complaining that they are living day-to-day and that “nobody will feed our families while we’re in isolation for three days.”
People nonetheless feel a bit of relief since unlike cases of COVID-19, which triggers regional lockdowns, the flu requires only the patient themselves to self-isolate for three days.
Meanwhile, even after North Korea declared an end to the nation’s COVID-19 situation, neighborhood doctors in Hyesan, Yanggang Province have been going around their jurisdictions every morning to perform temperature checks on local residents.
The doctors visit households everyday to check for cases of fever, but the source says they typically do not look at patients, and simply ask whether they have other symptoms.
This has led some locals to sarcastically ask, “Don’t they have anything better to do in the morning?” It has also sparked concern that suspected COVID-19 patients who suffer from high fever could easily hide their condition.
“They won’t get medicine even if they say they have COVID-19 symptoms, and they’ll need to spend a long time in isolation,” the source said. “What’s more, they’re afraid it could trigger a regional lockdown, so many locals hide the condition of their illness.”
He added that people keep mum even if suspected COVID-19 symptoms appear because their neighbors — who are already suffering a direct threat to their livelihoods — could suffer even worse hardships in the event of a full-scale lockdown.
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