In a bizarre news, North Korean health authorities have claimed that its Covid-19 outbreak originated in an area bordering South Korea as local residents came into contact with "alien" stuff there, a state media report said.

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited probe into the transmission route of the Omicron variant outbreak, which Pyongyang made public on May 12. "The investigation results showed that several persons coming from the area of Ipho-ri in Kumgang County in Kangwon Province to the capital city in mid-April were in fever," Yonhap News Agency quoted the KCNA report as saying. "A sharp increase of fever cases was witnessed among their contacts and that a group of fevered persons emerged in the area of Ipho-ri for the first time."