SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said on Sunday a total of 42 people had died as the country began its fourth day under a nationwide lockdown aimed at stopping the impoverished country's first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak.

On Thursday North Korea acknowledged for the first time a COVID-19 outbreak and ordered the lockdowns. State news agency KCNA said the country was taking 'swift state emergency measures' to control the epidemic.

'All provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other since the morning of May 12 and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conducted,' KCNA reported on Sunday.

In this image made from video broadcast by North Korea's KRT, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wears a face mask on state television during a meeting acknowledging the country's first case of COVID-19, May 12, 2022, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

A day earlier North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the spread of COVID-19 had thrust his country into 'great turmoil' and called for an all-out battle to overcome the outbreak.

Health authorities had set up more epidemic prevention posts and urgently transported medical supplies to hospitals and clinics, while senior officials had donated reserve medicines, KCNA reported.

At least 296,180 more people came down with fever symptoms, and 15 more had died as of Sunday, the outlet said.

Experts say North Korea appears to lack the capacity to test those tens of thousands of symptomatic patients. KCNA did not report how many of those suspected cases had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Overall North Korea has reported 820,620 suspected cases, with 324,550 still under medical treatment, KCNA said.

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