North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a ruling party politburo meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, in this photo provided by the North Korean government. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image. AP-Yonhap

North Korea said Saturday it has confirmed around 220,000 new cases of "fever" and another death, nine days after publicly admitting a COVID-19 outbreak.

The nation's leader Kim Jong-un also had a ruling Workers' Party politburo meeting to discuss strategies in the "anti-epidemic war," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

He stressed the need to "optimize" the virus prevention policy and take "all possible steps for revitalizing the overall economy" at the same time.

More than 219,030 people showed "symptoms of fever" and one death was reported over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the KCNA said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters. It raised the death toll to 66, while 281,350 have recovered.