SEOUL, North Korea’s new suspected COVID-19 cases remained below 2,000 for the third consecutive day, according to its state media Saturday.

More than 1,590 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters.

The total number of fever cases since late April came to over 4.76 million as of 6 p.m. Friday and at least 2,910 others are being treated, it added.

The North’s daily fever tally has been on a downward trend after peaking at over 392,920 on May 15.

The death toll remained at 74, with a fatality rate of 0.002 percent, according to a report by the state-run Korean Central Television.

The KCNA reported that the North is directing all efforts to turn “all regions of the country into epidemic-free ones at the earliest date possible.”

Health authorities urged people to report immediately when they come across any “alien objects” and warned them against coming into contact with wild animals, it said.

The North has also tightened lockdown barriers near the border, coastal areas, the sea and airspace as the “possibility of the inroads of a new contagious virus into the country from outside is ever-increasing and such danger still exists.”

Last week, the North claimed its coronavirus outbreak originated from alien things in an area near the inter-Korean border, alluding to balloons often sent by North Korean defector groups in South Korea.

The South Korean government immediately dismissed the assertion, saying it was realistically impossible for the balloons to have carried the virus into the North.

North Korea disclosed its first COVID-19 case on May 12 after claiming to be coronavirus-free for over two years and implemented nationwide lockdowns.

Source: Yonhap News Agency