State news outlet KCNA reported that Kim accused senior officials of negligence at a specially convened meeting of party leaders, BBC reported

As a result, they "caused a grave incident that has caused a great risk to people and the nation's safety", according to his comments in Korean, it added.

A CNN report said it is not known how many officials were responsible for the unspecified incident which Kim has called a "great crisis."

The report said an outbreak of Covid-19 could be catastrophic for North Korea as its dilapidated health care infrastructure is unlikely to deal with a large number of patients infected with the highly infectious disease.

North Korea has a population of 25 million and few believe that it is unlikely for the nation to have escaped the pandemic which has infected over 180 million people across the globe.

This belief is strengthened, especially after KCNA warned last summer that an incident involving a symptomatic defector from South Korea might lead to a "deadly and destructive disaster", the CNN report stated.

Some others think that the limited testing facility of the isolated country may be another reason for unaccounted infections, it added.

Last year, two people were executed on Kim's order for Covid-19 related crimes. One of them was a customs official, who did not follow the Covid protocols while importing goods from China.

North Korea has also closed its border with China, country's only lifeline, since January 2020 to keep at bay the coronavirus infection, leading to food crisis and shortage of supply of oher essential goods.