Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping led his country as the nation observed three minutes of silence in honour of those killed due to COVID-19 outbreak.
Flags across the country and at overseas embassies were flown at half-mast, and all public entertainment was suspended for the day. The Chinese government terms this as a tribute to ‘martyrs’ and ‘compatriots’ – a reference to nearly 3,400 medical workers who were infected, of which 14 succumbed to novel virus.
At 10 am (local time), citizens halted their activities, cars, trains and ships sounded their horns, and air-raid sirens rang out in memory of more than 3,000 lives claimed by the virus.
COVID-19 coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan city of Hubei province in December last year, since then, the country has officially reported 81,639 confirmed cases and 3,326 deaths.
Earlier, on March 30, Chinese government had lifted the lockdown in Wuhan city which spanned for more than 10 weeks, as the city registered no new coronavirus cases.
