To mourn those lost to the coronavirus outbreak, China will observe thee minutes of silence on Saturday morning.
At 10 am, 1.38 billion people will remain quiet and still as cars, trains, and ships sound their horns while emergency sirens wail out in cities across the country.
In Shanghai, subway trains will stop running for the three minutes and sound their horns.
All public activities will be suspended and flags will be flown at half-mast.
The event commemorates the deaths of more than 81,000 people in China to the Covid-19 virus, including 14 frontline medical workers who have been declared “martyrs” of the epidemic.
One of those martyrs is whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang who was one of the first to sound the alarm about the outbreak back in December, only to be reprimanded by police.
Symbolically, the national time of mourning occurs on Tomb Sweeping Day in China, a traditional festival in which Chinese people honor their ancestors by cleaning up their graves.
