North Korea has ordered a five-day lockdown on its capital Pyongyang

due to "respiratory illness,"

a South Korean news website reported.

The move appears to be the first citywide since the country declared victory over Covid-19 in August 2022.

Pyongyang residents have been ordered to

stay at home from Wednesday to Sunday

and must undergo multiple temperature tests each day, Seoul-based

NK News

reported , citing a government document.

The document did not mention Covid-19, but it did say that the cold was one of the new diseases that were spreading through the capital.

Citing sources in Pyongyang,

NK News

said on Tuesday that residents of North Korea's largest city appeared to be

stocking up on supplies

in anticipation of a potential lockdown.

It is unknown if other territories are affected by similar blockades and no new measures have been announced by state media.

The Korean Peninsula is experiencing what forecasters describe as

a Siberian cold snap

, with temperatures in Pyongyang dipping as low as minus 22°C.

closed borders

China, North Korea's main trading partner and neighbor, is facing a wave of infections after ending its drastic "Covid zero" policy.

North Korea has kept its borders strictly closed since the start of the pandemic,

but allows some trade with China

.

Pyongyang announced its first case of Covid in May 2022

, before declaring victory over the disease three months later.

However, the World Health Organization has long questioned Pyongyang's Covid statistics and its claims that the epidemic is under control.

Experts consider North Korea to have

one of the worst healthcare systems in the world

, with poorly equipped hospitals, few intensive care units and no treatment for Covid-19.

Some sources point out that Pyongyang has not vaccinated its approximately 25 million people, although other reports indicate that the country has received vaccines from China.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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