North Korea is calling for heightened vigilance against COVID-19 amid soaring infections in South Korea due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Sunday that the nation is carrying out its emergency quarantine campaign more vigorously along with springtime hygiene programs.

The KCNA said that the nation should not reduce quarantine efforts for annual programs to clean streets and buildings in spring, adding it is making active efforts to raise public awareness of quarantine measures.

The report added that people are abiding by quarantine measures such as mask wearing, hand disinfection and distancing at work and public places.

North Korea has repeatedly claimed that it has no COVID-19 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.