North Korean Premier Kim Jae Ryong recently visited quarantine headquarters in the country's southwestern provinces, party daily the Rodong Sinmun said Wednesday, as the country continues to report on ongoing nationwide measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Kim's public visit is the first by a high-level North Korean official to a quarantine office since Pyongyang declared the threat of coronavirus to be a "national emergency," and saw the mask-clad premier emphasize the need for the country to "more thoroughly proceed with examination and quarantine work at the border-crossing areas."