North Korea, one of only a handful of countries not to have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19, has said that it continues testing and has more than 500 people in quarantine, the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters on Tuesday.

The WHO, which said it had been receiving "weekly updates" from the health ministry, said that the reclusive country had the capacity to test coronaviruses in its national reference laboratory in the capital Pyongyang.