N. Korea flags hantavirus danger amid cruise ship outbreak

▲ North Korean officials carry out COVID-19 prevention measures, in this file photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on March 5, 2023. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

N Korea-hantavirus

N. Korea flags hantavirus danger amid cruise ship outbreak

SEOUL, May 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has raised the alarm over the danger posed by the hantavirus after an outbreak on a foreign cruise ship has killed three passengers, echoing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic years earlier.

The Rodong Simnum, the ruling Workers' Party's official newspaper, reported Monday on the outbreak of the Andes strain of the virus on a ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, describing it as "raising concerns from the international community."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 3 emergency response over the outbreak, activating its emergency operations center, it added.

The paper urged the public to minimize contact with infected rodents, maintain cleanliness at home and in the workplace, and practice good personal hygiene to reduce the risk of infection.

The report followed an earlier dispatch Friday, when it covered the first fatality aboard the MV Hondius, which had departed from Argentina.

The coverage appears intended to alert the public to the potential risk of the virus reaching the country. It echoed Pyongyang's response to COVID-19, when it sealed its borders for years to halt the spread of the virus.

At that time, the shutdown effectively halted economic exchanges with its key trading partners, China and Russia, and is believed to have caused significant economic damage.

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