North Korea is enhancing quarantine efforts amid the global spread of the new coronavirus variant Omicron.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said on Monday that the emergence of the new variant, which is five times more infectious than the delta variant, is causing serious concern. 

The KCNA said that officials and workers are doing their best to ensure thorough enforcement of emergency quarantine measures in the face of the rapid spread of the new variant. 

The report added that workers are trying to find and address all weak spots in quarantine in order to block the inflow of the variant, with intensive efforts underway to raise public awareness of the crisis and antivirus measures.  

The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the North's Workers' Party, also urged the public to be alert and abide by quarantine rules thoroughly, saying that more countries are falling into the cycle of mass infections due to the public's negligence and lapses.