Remember Covid-19 lockdowns, well until very recently they were still a thing in China and currently North Korea, with a five day Covid lockdown in Pyongyang announced today.
To read about the tepid opening of China click here,
Five Day Lockdown in Pyongyang
The lockdown, which did not mention Covid-19 per-se was announced on Tuesday and is due to finish on Sunday 29th January. Reports coming out of the country of residents “panic buying” are probably though a slight exaggeration, with “panic buying” now being a synonym with “stocking up”.
As well as staying indoors residents will also be required to take regular temperature checks.
The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea had an “outbreak” of sorts last year, before declaring citron over the pandemic in August of the same year. Although said victory might well be a tad of an over-estimation.
How much of North Korea has been vaccinated?
The DPRK has not vaccinated any of its citizens despite being offered it for free by China, South Korea, as well as part of global initiatives. It is not known quite why they said no, but theories have related mostly to not wanting a foreign presence overseeing the vaccinations, as well as a lack of infrastructure to implement the jabs.
More hawkish commentators have also speculated that the regime feared their people being “poisoned”, but this is unsubstantiated.
What is the North Korean Covid gameplay
Reports from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state run North Korea media outlet have recently being pushing health warnings and promoting campaigns that allow “all the working people observe anti-epidemic regulations voluntarily in their work and life”.
People have also been seen using face-masks, new masks and even double-masking at public events, with news from China whilst not published probably not being too far from peoples minds.
North Korea is watching China
North Korea will no doubt be watching what is happening in China with great interest. China despite vaccinating its people has seen bodies pile up since reducing, or removing Covid measures late last year, something only done after massive protests.
To read about how China opening will affect North Korea click here
Many outlets have stated that China is not only downplaying the number of deaths, but that many variants may have been created within the country because off the zero-Covid bubble that it put itself in.
Regardless though, North Korea will no doubt be watching what happens in China with open eyes, particularly to the deaths now occurring during its harsh winter and planning when it may decide to open to the outside world. Of course no one quite knows, but a safe bet would be to say probably not thus year.