Residents bury dead as Wuhan emerges from COVID-19

As the new confirmed cases continue to drop in Wuhan, the epicentre of the global COVID-19 pandemic, residents line up to bury their loved ones who succumbed to the virus.

During the 76-day lockdown that was imposed on January 25 to curb the spread of the disease, residents were banned from performing funerals for the dead. The cemeteries were closed as well, CNN reported.

Hospitals and Funeral homes in Wuhan stored the last remains of the dead as Wuhan residents, under a tight lockdown with public transportation could not claim them or perform final rites.

In a draconian move to curb the spread of the disease, authorities in Wuhan ordered that all the bodies of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients must be taken from the hospitals to funeral homes for cremation.

Late last month as the cases continued to drop, residents were allowed to retrieve the mortal remains of their loved ones who had succumbed to the disease and find them a resting place in the city's cemeteries.

Ever since the authorities allowed to claim the ashes of the dead and bury them, photos of people in long queues have gone viral on social media.

The scenes outside funeral homes were quickly censored on Chinese social networks and received little coverage on state media, only being reported by a handful of relatively outspoken Chinese media outlets.

Wuhan lifted its 76-day lockdown on April 7 allowing public transportation to ply normally and residents to travel in and out of the city.

China has reported 83, 096 cases and 3,343 deaths due to the coronavirus. 77, 921 people have recovered from the disease, as per the data released by the Johns Hopkins University.