North Korea has stressed the need for heightened vigilance toward the COVID-19 pandemic and to continuously strengthen quarantine efforts. 

In an editorial released on Friday, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, the Rodong Sinmun, stressed the need for the nation to follow a joint resolution that was adopted last Saturday during the meeting of the Political Bureau of the ruling party's Central Committee. 

The editorial said nothing is more valuable than the safety of the people, citing that the joint resolution had sought for more thorough state measures to protect the life and safety of North Koreans from the great worldwide epidemic. 

The editorial said damage from the pandemic is growing by the day, stressing the need for further efforts toward emergency quarantine measures until the infectious disease is fully contained.  

In particular, the editorial stressed the need to thoroughly check any possibilities of the virus entering the nation via land, sea or air and said preemptive and immediate measures must be devised to address related problems.