Coronavirus: China limits access to cemeteries for Ching Ming tomb-sweeping festival
- Local governments urge public to make reservations to visit the graves of their ancestors
- Some places are also offering online services for relatives to pay their respects
Chinese authorities are strictly limiting access to cemeteries amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, as the country enters the two-week period around the Ching Ming Festival on April 4, when people traditionally visit the graves of their ancestors.
Saturday was the first day of the reserved visits in Shanghai, with the city’s 54 cemeteries providing 105,000 slots for on-site tomb-sweeping. Some 79,200 people made reservations for Saturday, with 78,600 actually attending, according to local news portal Thepaper.cn. A total of 685,000 people have made reservations in Shanghai for the tomb-sweeping period between March 28 and April 12.
In the capital city of Beijing, traffic restrictions on access roads were put in place in addition to requiring reservations to visit local cemeteries. The Beijing News reported that a few roads around the Babaoshan Cemetery were blocked, and one gate to the graveyard was closed, so that cars could only enter and exit through a single route to avoid congestion.
Tables were set up outside the subway station close to the Babaoshan Cemetery offering disinfectant, alcohol wipes and a waste bin for face masks. Visitors also had to show identification as well as have their temperature taken before entering the cemetery.
The restrictions kept many people away, with The Beijing News reporting that visits to cemeteries in Beijing’s Fengtai district were down 93 per cent compared with last year.
