Hundreds of North Korean soldiers have reportedly died from the coronavirus – and thousands of others are being quarantined. But the secretive nation's leaders are sticking to the official narrative that the global epidemic has not reached them.

According to Daily NK, a South Korean news organisation, the Covid-19 virus killed 180 North Korean soldiers in January and February and has sent another 3,700 into quarantine. And according to South Korea's government-backed Yonhap News Agency, almost 10,000 people have been quarantined over coronavirus fears, but nearly 4,000 have been released since they did not present symptoms.

But the North Korean government line has not changed. The cloistered nation has remained stubbornly resistant to providing transparent information about the reported outbreak in the country.

The infectious disease did not flow into our country yet,” North Korea's government-controlled Rodong Sinmunsaid on Monday, according to Newsweek.

As of Tuesday, the coronavirus had infected more than 112,000 people globally and led to nearly 4,000 deaths.

The Daily NK attributed its information to a medical corp report from within the North Korean military. Hospitals serving different parts of the army were asked to provide data about the number of soldiers in their care that had died of high fevers triggered by pneumonia, tuberculosis, asthma, and colds as well as those who were in quarantine.

The report itself caused a furor in the military's leadership, according to a Daily NK source, who said that officials have ordered military hospitals to thoroughly sanitise the areas where quarantined soldiers are being housed. Soldiers with compromised immune systems or those who have a history of poor health are also being closely monitored, the source said.

Military unit leaders can also expect to be punished if proper protocol aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus is not followed, the Daily NK noted.