State media from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea reported the nation's "first suspected case" of the Covid-19 coronavirus, stating that a young man who defected to South Korea about 3 years ago returned across the demarcation line back into the city of Kaesong of North Korea with Covid-19 symptoms on July 19th, 2020. In an emergency meeting with top officials, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un reportedly imposed a lockdown on Kaesong.

On the other hand, while South Korea confirmed that the 24 year-old man crawled under barbed wide, climbed through a drainpipe, and swam well over a kilometre (about a mile) starting from the Ganghwa Island near the border, South Korean health officials say that the person was "not registered as a Covid-19 patient, nor classified as a person who came in contact with virus patients". Furthermore, officials announced that that virus tests were conducted with two other people who had close contact with the re-defector, and both tested negative.

While this is the first time that North Korea has reported a suspected case of the coronavirus, some analysts say this is unlikely.

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