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| People wearing protective face masks walk amid concerns over COVID-19 in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by=Reuters) |
[아시아뉴스통신=레악카나 기자] The Red Cross has been training more than 43,000 volunteers in North Korea, including in the locked-down city of Kaesong, to help fight the coronavirus and provide flood assistance, an official with the relief organisation said on Monday (Aug 10).
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared an emergency last month and imposed a lockdown on Kaesong, near the inter-Korean border, after a man who defected to the South in 2017 returned to the city showing coronavirus symptoms.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has built an extensive network of North Korean volunteers to help residents in all nine provinces to avoid the virus and reduce damage from floods and landslides, spokesman Antony Balmain said.
In Kaesong, which was grappling with both the lockdown and floods, IFRC volunteers were providing 2,100 families most at risk with relief items including tarpaulins, kitchen sets, quilts, hygiene kits and water containers.North Korea has not confirmed any coronavirus cases but has enforced strict quarantine measures.The IFRC last month provided North Korea with kits designed to run up to 10,000 coronavirus tests, alongside infrared thermometers, surgical masks, gowns and protective gears.
