North Korea has warned its people to stay inside over fears of a “yellow dust” bringing the coronavirus from China, BBC News reports.
- The yellow dust is a reference to sand from Chinese deserts that blows into South Korea and North Korea throughout the year. It has raised health concerns in those countries because it can pick up toxic dust, according to BBC News.
- The seasonal dust cloud has no apparent link or connection to COVID-19, according to BBC News.
Turkmenistan has made allegations that the dust plumes could bring coronavirus into the country, imploring people to wear face masks to stay protected, according to BBC News.
- Turkmenistan said the face mask decision was not related to an outbreak.
The Russian Embassy in North Korea said in a Facebook post from the foreign ministry “that due to the expected approximation of the dust storm, all foreigners in the DPRK are highly recommended from the morning to the end of the day 22 October, exclude the exit to the city and stay home, tightly closing the windows.”
North Korea has long maintained that — despite its proximity to China, where the coronavirus began — it has not had any COVID-19 cases, as I explained for the Deseret News.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the coronavirus can remain in the air for hours. But there’s less risk of people to be infected outdoors if they’re just walking through a cloud of coronavirus molecules.
- “The main way people get infected is from standing in close proximity to someone who is infected who then coughs, sneezes or talks, spreading the virus through droplets,” according to BBC News.