North Korea is also exerting efforts to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country.

The North is operating a state emergency quarantine system and has set up central and provincial headquarters.

Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party's newspaper, said on Thursday that the quarantine command posts are conducting thorough inspections at border checkpoints including airports and sea ports while monitoring and running health checkups on residents and those who have been on overseas business trips.

The paper said that central agencies and local authorities in the province, city and county level were exerting their best efforts to block the coronavirus under unified instructions by the central health guidance committee.

In another article, the newspaper said that quarantine officials have been dispatched to key areas in various provinces and that sanitary programs were also under way.

An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry said that North Korea's latest response has been rather unusual compared to the SARS and MERS outbreaks in the past.

[Photo : YONHAP News]