Yesterday, official media reported that North Korea had scrapped the mandatory use of masks and other social distancing rules as leader Kim Jong Un declared victory over the emerging coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, three months after it first acknowledged the outbreak of the virus. in the country.

Kim chaired a meeting on the coronavirus last Wednesday and ordered the lifting of maximum anti-epidemic measures imposed three months ago, and said North Korea must maintain a “strong steel barrier to combat the epidemic.”

In light of the transition from a “high-level” system to a “normal” epidemic control system, North Korea has canceled the mandatory wearing of masks and other rules in all regions except border areas, the official KCNA said.

North Korea recommended that people with respiratory symptoms use masks and urged people to be vigilant against “unnatural things” that Pyongyang described as the cause of the outbreak.

North Korea blamed “foreign matters” near South Korea’s border for the coronavirus outbreak.