SEOUL (Reuters) - At 9:30 a.m. every day this week, a soft-spoken official has appeared on North Korean television to report the number of people with fever and new deaths, and to explain measures to stop North Korea's first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak.
The little-known official, Ryu Yong Chol, has become the public face of the isolated country's battle against the epidemic, the equivalent of U.S. COVID-19 czar Dr Anthony Fauci or the director of South Korea's disease prevention agency, Jeong Eun-kyeong.
For more than two years, with its borders sealed, North Korea did not report a single case of COVID, which sceptics abroad suggested was more a reflection of its traditional state secrecy than a real absence of the coronavirus.
Since confirming its first outbreak and declaring a state of emergency last week, North Korea has changed tack. Appearing to take a page from playbooks of many other countries, it is releasing detailed data about the spread of the virus and advice on how to avoid it.
Ryu works for the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters, KCNA has reported, which appears to be newly set up to tackle COVID.
Like its South Korean equivalent, the North Korean agency holds daily briefings, chaired by Ryu, though without questions from reporters.
