Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – A ceremony to commemorate people who lost their lives to COVID-19 will be held simultaneously at 8am on November19 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the organising board for HCM City’smajor celebrations told a press conference on November 17.
The event will be co-hosted by the Vietnam Fatherland FrontCentral Committee and the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.
Speaking at the press conference, Deputy Director of the Ho ChiMinh City’s Department of Culture and Sports Vo Trong Nam said the event willbe live broadcast on Vietnam Television channel.
Several reportages and a speech by the President of the VFFCentral Committee will be screened before a ritual starts at 8:30 to commemorate the victims of the pandemic.
Candle lighting rituals will also be performed in Thu Duc City and all districts of HCM City to paytribute to victims in the pandemic. All religious establishments in the city will ring bells and vessels at ports will blow their horns.
The city asks residents to turn off lights and lit candle in memory of the deceased at the same moment.
Meanwhile, districts located along Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe and Tau Hu-Ben Nghe canals will release coloured lanterns at 8:35pm the same day.
Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City’s Health DepartmentNguyen Hoai Nam said as of November 16, the city recorded 17,263 deaths causedby the pandemic, with 41.5 percent of them being men, 58.5 percent women and 86.5percent aged above 50. Three medical workers, 38 children and 62 pregnant women were among the dead victims of the disease./.
