North Korea is making all-out efforts to prevent the new coronavirus from reaching the country, including extending the quarantine period for higher-risk people to 30 days, Pyongyang's ambassador to Geneva was quoted as saying.

Ambassador Han Tae-song made the remarks in an interview with Reuters, stressing that the communist nation has not seen any confirmed case yet of the deadly virus that has killed more than 2,000 people in neighboring China alone.

"I was informed that we extended the quarantine, actually it was 14 days, but according to scientific results, coronavirus could break out even three weeks later. That is why we extended to 30 days quarantine," he was quoted as saying by Reuters. "Prevention is less cost than cure."

It was the first time that a North Korean official has confirmed the stricter quarantine's implementation after the North's state media recently announced that the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly adopted "emergency" measures to double the isolation period to 30 days.

Han said there has been no case of new coronavirus infection in North Korea. Asked whether there are any suspected cases, he did not provide a direct answer but noted, "The main suspects could be travelers who visited other countries."