North Korea has confirmed its first COVID-19 death, a day after admitting its first case of the virus and ordering a lockdown of cities and counties. 

According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Friday, the national emergency quarantine command reported 18-thousand cases of fever and six deaths, including one from COVID-19, the previous day.

The deceased tested positive for the stealth omicron variant. 

The KCNA said leader Kim Jong-un visited the quarantine command on Thursday and received the report.

It said the country has seen a soaring number of unknown fever cases nationwide since April, totaling around 350-thousand in that short period of time, with 162-thousand now fully recovered.

About 187-thousand people are receiving treatment in isolation.

Kim reportedly said the widespread fever cases revealed holes in the country's quarantine system, calling for stringent measures to block the virus.

North Korea acknowledged its first COVID-19 case on Thursday and convened a politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party presided over by Kim. The meeting decided to shift the state epidemic prevention system to the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system.