Coronavirus: China observes a national day of mourning for victims of Covid-19
- People across the country pay their respects to those they lost with three minutes of silence at 10am
- China has reported 81,639 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 3,326 deaths
Chinese President Xi Jinping led the country on Saturday in observing a national day of mourning for those who lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic.
Clad in black, Xi paid his respects to victims of the outbreak with three minutes of silence starting at 10am. As people stood in silence, the sound of air sirens blasted across the country along with horns from cars, trains, and ships.
All of the six other Politburo Standing Committee members also joined the ceremony, along with other senior leaders including Vice-President Wang Qishan, Vice-Premier Liu He, Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua, Politburo member Yang Jiechi, director of the General Office of the Communist Party Ding Xuexiang and Beijing party chief Cai Qi.
The officials all had white chrysanthemums, which symbolise grief, pinned on their lapels.
Chinese government and state media websites, including Xinhua and People's Daily, changed their colour schemes to black and white for the day.
This is the first time China has held a national day of mourning for a public health crisis.
In Wuhan, a separate ceremony was led by Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, Hubei party chief Ying Yong and head of National Health Commission Ma Xiaowei, with other participants - some of whom wore medical clothing.