North Korea has been ramping up quarantine efforts on foreigners coming from Ebola-hit regions to prevent an outbreak of the deadly virus, a pro-North Korea newspaper said Thursday.
   
The communist country is isolating travelers coming from Ebola-stricken areas at separate hotels, including one in the western border city of Sinuiju, for 21 days because of potential Ebola infection risks, the Choson Sinbo newspaper, the mouthpiece of the communist country in Japan, reported. 
  
The country has recently set up an emergency prevention center to ward off Ebola, the news outlet noted.
  
Those subject to the quarantine include foreign diplomats, international organization workers who are required to stay put for 21 days at their offices in the North and North Koreans visiting from Japan, according to the report.  
   
During the required quarantine period, they are not allowed to go outside or be in contact with other people, it said. 
  
"These measures were introduced as the Ebola virus is spreading outside of Africa to the U.S. and West Europe," Pak Myong-su, North Korea's high-ranking health official, said in the report. "The national emergency disease preventive committee is making utmost efforts to fight the penetration of Ebola, which has not reached the country yet," he also said. 
   
Since the spread of the virus from Africa earlier this year, the North has stepped up preventive efforts and public campaigns, according to the country's main news outlets. (Yonhap)