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| A woman rides a bicycle as Juche Tower is seen in the background along the Taedong river in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sep 12, 2018. (File photo by=REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] North Korea issued a warning to its citizens to stay indoors, saying seasonal yellow dust blowing in from China might carry the new coronavirus into the country.
"As the new coronavirus infections continue to spread around the world, the need to deal with the yellow dust and take thorough measures has become more critical," North Korea's official party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Thursday (Oct 22). The claim that the virus that causes COVID-19 could spread to North Korea from the Gobi desert, 1,900km away, appears unsupported. Two meters are a common social-distancing metric, although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says droplets containing the virus can sometimes linger in the air for hours.
The North Korean newspaper said citizens should refrain from outdoor activities and must follow prevention guidelines such as wearing masks when they go outside. State-run KRT television said on Wednesday the yellow dust and fine dust may contain harmful substances, such as heavy metals and pathogenic microorganisms including viruses. On Thursday, the Russian embassy in North Korea wrote on Facebook that North Korea's Foreign Ministry had ordered all visitors to the country and its staff to wait out the dust storm inside.
