Seoul: A special North Korean flight carrying presumably dozens of diplomats and other foreigners left for Russia's Far East on Monday as the country tightens its lockdown intended to fend off the coronavirus.

Germany and France had withdrawn their representatives from North Korea and closed their missions on Monday, the British ambassador there later said, without mentioning the virus.

A passenger wearing a mask as a precaution against coronavirus has his temperature checked before boarding a flight to Vladivostok, Russia, at the Pyongyang International Airport in North Korea. Credit:AP

North Korea has not publicly confirmed a single case of the COVID-19 illness, but its state media have indicated thousands of people have been quarantined as part of strict prevention measures.

Seemingly dozens of passengers, most of them masked and some accompanied by children, lined up at Pyongyang International Airport. North Korean health workers wearing white protective suits scanned them for fevers.