China came to a standstill on Saturday as the nation observed a three-minute silence to mourn the martyrs, including the "whistleblower" Dr Li Wenliang, who sacrificed their lives in the arduous fight against the coronavirus outbreak and over 3,300 people who died of the infection that originated in the country.
This is perhaps the first-time time that a major public health emergency has triggered a nationwide mourning in China.
China has earlier held three national mournings to honour the victims of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the 2010 Yushu earthquake and the 2010 Gansu mudslide. COVID-19 has been regarded as the worst public health disaster in China's modern history.
At 10 am (local time), President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang along with the Politburo members of the ruling Communist Party of China, with white flowers pinned to their chests, bowed their heads and stood in three minutes of silence in front of the half-mast national flag in what appears to be at Zhongnanhai, the official residential complex for the top Chinese leaders.
A moment of silence was observed by the public across the country. As air raid sirens blared, cars, trains and ships honked horns.
In commemoration of the martyrs and deceased compatriots, national flags flew at half-mast across the country and in all Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, and public recreational activities were suspended nationwide on Saturday.
The first cases of the COVID-19 were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province late last year.
More From This Section
Since then, the virus has swept across the globe, infecting more than one million people and killing nearly 60,000 in 181 countries.
A total of 81,639 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported on the Chinese mainland, and 3,326 people died of the disease, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday.
In Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, various commemoration activities were held in public squares, hospitals, communities and other places.
The COVID-19 outbreak is considered a major public health emergency that is the fastest spreading, most widely affecting and most difficult to contain since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
State media reported that 95 police officials and 46 medical staff died of the virus while taking part in the operations to fight against it.
Fourteen frontline workers in central China's Hubei Province, including "whistleblower" Dr Li, were identified as martyrs for sacrificing their lives in combating the coronavirus outbreak.
It is regarded as a fitting tribute to Li (34), who died due to the virus.
He became a national hero as he was among the first few from the medical fraternity in Wuhan who raised an alarm about the virus in social media but was admonished by police who accused him of spreading rumours.
An enquiry after his death punished two police officials and the government in a rare gesture apologised to his family.
The first group of martyrs includes 12 medics, one police officer and one community worker who fought on the frontlines.
Previous reports said that over 3,000 medical personnel were affected by the COVID-19 and most of them reportedly recovered.
China pressed over 42,000 medical personnel drawn from all over the country as well as from the military in Wuhan where it built 14 makeshift hospitals in addition to the existing ones in the city to bring the virus under control.
Hubei, its capital Wuhan as well as the whole country is limping back to normalcy as the virus cases abated though new cases in smaller numbers, especially the imported ones, continued to be reported across the country.
During the national mourning in Beijing, people were seen breaking down on the streets as they stood to pay homage to the victims and martyrs who lost their lives to fight the virus, especially in Hubei province and Wuhan, where the disease emerged in December last year.
It is also regarded as the most stressful crisis the Chinese population faced as the country virtually was shut down for over two months while Hubei and Wuhan with over 56 million population were kept under lockdown.
Meanwhile, Hubei province, the worst-hit, reported four new deaths and one new case of COVID-19 on Friday.
The province confirmed 38 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, bringing the total to 729 and indicating that the battle against the virus is not over yet even though normalcy gradually returned with apprehensions of a rebound.
Hubei has so far reported 67,803 confirmed cases, including 50,008 in Wuhan.
The NHC said 19 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on Friday, of which 18 were imported cases.
As of Friday, the mainland had reported a total of 888 imported cases.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
