China has asked couples to delay their weddings from a popular wedding date and families to cut down funeral services to help slow the spread of the country's coronavirus outbreak. The appeal came as the death toll from the new coronavirus rose to 259 and the total number of cases neared 12,000 nationwide. "Where marriage registrations have been announced or promised for February 2 this year, you are advised to cancel it and explain the situation to others," a civil affairs ministry statement said. Feb. 2 this year is being considered a lucky date for wedding ceremonies because the numbers "02022020" reads the same backwards as forwards.
Beijing, Shanghai and other cities had earlier decided to offer wedding registry services on the date, despite it falling on a Sunday when offices are usually closed. The ministry said it would temporarily stop marriage counselling services and asked the public not to hold wedding banquets.
It also said funerals should be held in a "simple manner to avoid gatherings of people" and the bodies of any victims of the coronavirus should be done with as soon as possible. Staff handling funerals should wear protective clothes and carry out temperature checks to avoid risking infection, the statement added.
China has introduced strict travel restrictions and pushed back the end of the Lunar New Year holiday when hundreds of millions of people travel across the country to visit family in a bid to contain the virus. Schools and universities nationwide have been told not to start classes, officials have urged factories to delay their return to work and the public has been asked to avoid large crowds. More than 50 million people in Hubei Province, where the virus first started, are effectively locked down after authorities severed transport links. Officials in Hubei announced on Saturday that they would suspend all marriage registrations from Monday until further notice.
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