Ceremony to commemorate COVID-19 victims in Hanoi, HCM City

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 November 19 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the organising board for HCM City’s major celebrations told a press conference on November 17.

The event will be co-hosted by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.

Speaking at the press conference, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Culture and Sports Vo Trong Nam said the event will be live broadcast on Vietnam Television channel.

Several reportages and a speech by the President of the VFF Central 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 pay tribute 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 Department Nguyen Hoai Nam said as of November 16, the city recorded 17,263 deaths caused by the pandemic, with 41.5 percent of them being men, 58.5 percent women and 86.5 percent aged above 50. Three medical workers, 38 children and 62 pregnant women were among the dead victims of the disease./.